1 friend request pending
by Banana Flavored Lemonade
Summary: Stars Hollow is introduced to Facebook. Lailah James is an Australian orphan. One night Lailah reads an article written by Rory and her world changes forever, with one accepted friend request and one friend request pending. Slightly dodgy but i liked the idea. R&R please. let me know any ideas you have and i'll consider them. :D
1. Chapter 1

_**Lorelai Gilmore-Danes  
**__Can't wait for tomorrow. Now just to survive the twelve hour plane ride. _

_**Lailah James  
**__ Don't forget that you have the address in your phone. See you soon. Xx_

_**Lorelai Gilmore-Danes  
**__I didn't forget, Luke reminded me but thanks anyways. Keep safe._

_**Lailah James  
**__I will, I'm tough._

That was the Facebook status that signalled the change of everything. About a year ago I was surfing the net when I stumbled across a copy of _the New York Times _and decided to read it as, well there wasn't much else to do at three am where I live. After skimming the headings I found an article about a small town somewhere in Connecticut, America. It sounded interesting enough, I mean the title was 'Stars visit Stars Hollow: the towns dream couple re-unite.' I read it and was surprised with just how enthralling the story was. It was the tale of a blue eyed woman who owned an Inn and a gruff, blue eyed diner owner who were best friends then they got together and fell in love but never told each other, then they broke up because the woman's mother interfered but not to worry because they got back together and confessed their love, resulting in a marriage proposal by the woman which was accepted by the diner owner. No, it doesn't end there. Everything was going well, they moved in together and started renovating her house, that is until he found out he had a twelve-year-old daughter and pushed the woman away. After she had married her child's father and then promptly divorced him they got back together and apparently are now living happily ever after.

See, compelling. So much so that I just had to know where this _Rory Gilmore_ got her story from. You see, I thought that papers were only supposed to tell real stories and this one was just too good to be true. I'd never heard of love so deep and care free. Long story made short (I'd always been told I told the long version of every story I'd ever told, so much so that people used to mock me, saying _'this one time at band camp...' _ when I started saying something) I took a chance and added Rory Gilmore on my facebook and she just happened to be on and accepted. From there we talked about everything. It started out with how she got the story and why she wrote it.

Turns out that it's about her mother and step-father. She revealed to me just how Luke (her step father) is around other people and how he is at home with herself, Lorelai (her mother), April (Luke's Daughter) and their dog, Paul Anka. We spoke almost every day and I shared more of my life and thoughts with her than anyone else. She was accepting and didn't ask the hard questions that most people do, she let me come to her.

_**Rory:  
Hi, how are you?**_

_**Lailah:  
I'm good. And yourself?**_

_**Rory:  
I'm good. Visiting Stars Hollow for the week.**_

_**Lailah:  
awesome, how's the family?**_

_**Rory:  
Good, mom is looking over my shoulder at this very moment. She says hello.**_

_**Lailah:  
Hey Lorelai.**_

_**Rory:  
Hi Lai. Hope you're well.**_

_**Lailah:  
I am.**_

_**Rory:  
It's me again. How is your family?**_

_**Lailah:  
I don't know. Probs not so good.**_

_**Rory:  
Why, what happened?**_

_**Lailah:  
Some stuff.**_

_**Rory:  
Don't wanna talk about it?**_

_**Lailah:  
Not really.**_

_**Rory:  
Okay. So what have you been up to?**_

_**Lailah:  
Not much just school work and a lot of reading.**_

_**Rory:  
Anything new and good on your bookshelf?**_

_**Lailah:  
Yep, a book called Perfect Chemistry. It's so amazing, you should check it out. Not so sure if you'll like it as much as me but it's good.**_

_**Rory:  
Might get mom to read it. She isn't really into all the classics like I am.**_

_**Lailah:  
Yeah, I never understood how you can read something so old.**_

_**Rory:  
The stories are timeless.**_

_**Lailah:  
My Grandmother used to say that a lot. She told me that my mum used to like the classics, specifically Pride and Prejudice. I tried to read it once but couldn't get past chapter one.**_

_**Rory:  
That's sad, it's a great book. If your mom liked it then you should read it, do something so you two can relate.**_

_**Lailah:  
I try not to follow in her footsteps. She was a bad person, reckless.**_

_**Rory:  
She can't be that bad.**_

_**Lailah:  
She had me when she was fifteen and then ditched out on me when I was two. Not such a great role model, hey.**_

_**Rory:  
Not all young parents are bad.**_

_**Lailah:  
In my experience they are.**_

_**Rory:  
My mom had me when she was sixteen and she's the best mom I could ever hope for. She's given up so much for me. You sure do have a dark outlook on life, Bec.**_

_**Lailah:  
Yeah, well when you're mum abandons you and then your grandparents die and you're left in foster care because no one else wants you it kind of comes with the territory.**_

_**Rory:  
I am so sorry. If you ever need anything you can talk to me, you know.**_

_**Lailah:  
I know. I have to go, it's getting kinda late here but I'll probably talk to you tomorrow.**_

_**Rory:  
Bye.**_

We didn't talk for about a week after that. I'd never told anyone how I resented my mother. I'd always said that I understood and that it wasn't a big deal but it was. I resented her more and more every day. I lived in squaller while she was probably off somewhere living a carefree life of luxury with some hot, young man who swept her off her feet. I think that somewhere, deep inside me I was avoiding Rory because now she knew me. She could look inside of my smiling, seemingly happy face and call my bullshit. Finally, a week and a half later I got back on the horse and prepared myself to apologize for my minor blow up.

_**Lailah:  
Hey, I'm sorry for the other week. I didn't mean to blow up at u like that. I was just upset but it felt good to get it all out. You were right. I do have a dark outlook on life because, well, frankly my life sucks! I don't have any family and the people I live with don't give a rat's ass about me. I'm pretty sure that's common with most orphanages though, right? Basically I'm really sorry and I hope you understand where I'm coming from. I love that you and your mum are close. I wish I could have that but it's just so hard for me to understand that there is a life that started out so similar to mine yet is progressing so differently. You got the greener grass, the better, less tarnished mirror in the bathroom. Rory, your life is all I wish mine could be. I hope to god that you appreciate that.**_

_**Rory:  
Hey Lailah. It's Lorelai. I can guarantee you that Rory appreciates me.**_

_**Lailah:  
oh, hey Lorelai. How are you? Where's Rory?**_

_**Rory:  
Oh she accidentally left her facebook signed in on my computer. I didn't even notice until it started beeping at me. That noise sure is annoying. I'm good by the way, how are you?**_

_**Lailah:  
I'm alright. Feeling better, accepting life. **_

_**Rory:  
Don't accept life, embrace it! You need to smile girl. You look so pretty when you do it. **_

_**Lailah:  
I would smile if I had something to smile about.**_

_**Rory:  
Find something to smile about. Do something about it if you aren't happy.**_

_**Lailah:  
I've tried.**_

_**Rory:  
Well try harder! Make your life something .What do you want to be, more than anything else in the world?**_

_**Lailah:  
More than anything else in the world, what do I want to be?**_

_**Rory:  
Yes. More than anything else?**_

_**Lailah:  
Loved.**_

_**Rory:  
Oh sweetie. That's not what I meant, I meant career wise. You are loved. No matter where she is or what she's doing your mother loves you and she's thinking about you.**_

_**Lailah:  
No she isn't.**_

_**Rory:  
Yes she is! I can guarantee you of this!**_

_**Lailah:  
How can you be sure?**_

_**Rory:  
if she gave birth to you then she's thinking of you.**_

_**Lailah:  
Lols. Rory wrote you so well. **_

_**Rory:  
that's because she knows me better than anyone else in the whole world.**_

_**Lailah:  
because you're always around each other?**_

_**Rory:  
I guess.**_

_**Lailah:  
and you talk about everything with one another?**_

_**Rory:  
Yeah...?**_

_**Lailah:  
What's with the (?)?**_

_**Rory:  
I'm just wondering what all the questions are about.**_

_**Lailah:  
do you and Rory talk about everything... you know, EVERYTHING?**_

_**Rory:  
oh... EVERYTHING. Yeah, even that. Why?**_

_**Lailah:  
Just wondering if there is someone I could talk to when it comes to that...?**_

_**Rory:  
Absolutely. Just a second, I'll add you on my profile.**_

I exited the conversation and waited anxiously awaited the little ping that could change everything, the little ping that could mean that I have _somebody_. After a couple of heartbreaking minutes a little 'blop' resonated from the computer and I looked to the left corner of the screen to see a bubble with the words "1 friend request pending" and the name Lorelai Gilmore-Danes with a photograph of who I've grown to know is Lorelai, bent over in a grey hoddie, beanie on her head and a huge grin on her face. In the background you can see Luke's hip next to hers and his hand on her other hip. Quickly, I moved the old mouse over and hit 'accept'.

After a moment that 'bing' noise sounded and a chat box popped up in the bottom right corner.

_**Lorelai:  
Hey... so...?**_

_**Lailah:  
Okay there's this guy...**_

_**Lorelai:  
I'm listening... or reading. ;) tell me more, tell me more.**_

_**Lailah:  
he's really sweet and I'm thinking about asking him out...**_

_**Lorelai:  
but?**_

_**Lailah:  
I'm nervous.**_

_**Lorelai:  
about?**_

_**Lailah:  
all that boy stuff. Like beyond kissing.**_

_**Lorelai:  
I understand. That stuff can be kinda scary. I remember my first time...**_

_**Lailah:  
and?**_

_**Lorelai:  
well let me just say that it nothing like in the movies. It did nothing for me except hurt. It was awkward and mess and neither of us knew what we were doing so it was probably pretty ugly.**_

_**Lailah:  
sounds like fun... not! **_

_**Lorelai:  
it wasn't. **_

_**Lailah:  
what if he wants that?**_

_**Lorelai:  
you only do what you think is right. You should be with someone you love when you do it for the first time. It needs to be special. **_

_**Lailah:  
yeah, I guess if it's gonna be as terrible as you say then I should at least be with somebody I love. **_

_**Lorelai;  
exactly. So what are you doing? What time is it?**_

_**Lailah:  
it's like 12:31 at the moment. **_

_**Lorelai:  
wow, it's only 11am. So late over there.**_

_**Lailah:  
yeah well I think I should probably go to sleep soon.**_

_**Lorelai:  
yeah, probably. Do you still go to school?**_

_**Lailah:  
yep, grade 11. It sucks. **_

_**Lorelai:  
it can't be that bad.**_

_**Lailah:  
oh, it is. I'm doing almost all writing subjects. I have no art, metal work or anything. I just sit at desks all day.**_

_**Lorelai:  
welcome to the world, gorgeous. ;) It's just like that when you get a job.**_

_**Lailah:  
yeah well the world sucks. **_

_**Lorelai:  
it isn't so bad. Cheer up, sweets.**_

_**Lailah:  
I'll try. I'm going to bed. Night Lor.**_

_**Lorelai:  
night. Xx**_

I quickly signed off and crawled into beg that night, thinking everything she had said over in my head. 'How do I know who to sleep with? I mean, she said to only do it with somebody who I love. I don't know what love looks or feels like.'

First days started to rapidly pass, and then weeks, and then months. Throughout this time I spoke to Lorelai every day. Every so often I'd strike up a conversation with Rory, or even April who I had added. Once I even chatted to Luke on facebook. It sure was a shock, I typed in a chat box to Lorelai and all of a sudden Luke is chatting to me. And he was just like Rory said. Completely different from how the town sees him. He was caring and funny, almost the complete opposite from what the townspeople see.

One day I came home from school, completely gutted and shaken up. The most popular girl in the school had told everyone about me being in the foster system and not having parents because they didn't want me. I don't even know where she got the information from. As soon as I got home I stumbled my way into the shower and cried. No, cried is an understatement. I wept. I sobbed. I broke! After I emerged, my foster father, Joe, pointed out that my eyes were red. He went on to tell me what an ungrateful brat I was being and what could I possibly have to cry about. When he stopped to take a breath, I interjected, lying and telling him that I had gotten shampoo in my eyes and of course I appreciate everything they do for me.

After I escaped Joe and his pestering, I got dressed and sat on my bed, reading the sappiest book I could find on my bookshelf. After thoroughly wetting the books pages, I checked the clock on my bedside table. Ten-thirty pm it read. 'Close enough' I thought and pulled the tiny piece of paper from my bedside drawer. Lorelai's direct number. The one she always keeps on the 'outside' noise setting. She told me to use it if I ever desperately needed someone. I've never needed anybody more than now.

Punching in the number, the area code, the connection pin and the international call pin, I typed a simple text: "Need you more now than ever. Call me?"

I hit send.

Not even five minutes later did my phone start vibrating. I answered her call immediately. I'm sure I sounded like a complete freak. My deep breathing and heavy sobs were all that passed between our phones for a few moments. Then she spoke. "Lai?" she asked and I so wanted to answer her, to put on a brave voice and tell her how I'd over-reacted and let her go.

I didn't. I couldn't. "Lai, talk to me." I heard again and a deep sob ripped through me. I could hear a sympathetic sigh come through the line and then she sounded again. "Sweets, what happened?"

It took another couple of minutes of my sobbing and deep breathing before I could get the words out. Finally then all started tumbling. "She told. It wasn't her place to say. How did she know Lorelai? I didn't say anything. I've never talked about it. I just want to curl up and die, Lorelai. It hurts so badly." After thinking back over what I had just said, I realised that it made no sense, whatsoever.

I was about to correct my mistake when she spoke over the line again. Her voice was calming, caring, and I remember thinking that the most memorable part of her voice wasn't the thick American accent, or the way she subtly abbreviates almost everything ending in 'ing'. I remember thinking how much love was in her voice. "People are stupid babe, just ignore them. You are better than the rest and don't you forget it. I've told you before, the world is a formidable opponent but you can't stop fighting. Just look how far you've come already, imagine giving it all up now, just because of what somebody else did."

A smile lit up my face and I wiped my tears, sniffling slightly to clear the traces of sadness from my features. It's amazing how she covered everything without having any idea what had actually happened. I think it may have something to do with being a mother.

We spoke for hours that night about everything. Just as I was about to offer up a reluctant goodbye, she swooped in and picked up on what I needed most. Confidently, she offered to talk about anything under the sun until I was asleep, sensing that I needed someone, even if they were over the opposite side of the world.

That's exactly what she did. Every fifteen minutes she would ask if I was asleep yet and I'd grunt out a small, weak, "no." And she'd keep talking. Just as she was about to hang up, I heard her say "goodnight beautiful."

Without thinking I whispered back, clearly, "Night, night mummy."

Her shock was clear and a gasp of surprise resonated through the speaker. Then came her reply. "Night, night baby. I love you." and she was gone.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys, I hope you all saw my answer to your questions in the reviews. Sorry, I've only just gotten to net on a computer and I'm actually pretty sure it's like illegal. (we have really strict government restrictions on the net accessible from the school computers.) anyhow. Yes, 'guest', Lailah is based on me except my mum is a social worker and I have a pretty great life. So here is chapter 2. Don't forget to let me know any ideas you have or things you don't like. I love feedback, the good, the bad, and everything in between. So Ace5492 features in this chapter as Steph. I hope you guys like it. It will get happier as we go along.. I just thought it would be a good idea to show how disconnected from the world and the people in it, Lailah is. **

**I don't own GG or else I wouldn't just be writing this. I don't own the characters except Lailah, and to a certain extent, Steph. **

"**And here we go…" if you can guess where this quote is from then I will write a fic of your choice. Simply review with the movie's title and the character's name and I will get back to you. Hint, it has NOTHING to do with GG. **

It was the morning after Lorelai had lulled Lailah to sleep with her soothing voice and everything seemed so blurry. All that Lailah could remember was the soft, accented voice that gingerly spoke a secret lullaby to the sleepy teen the night before. As she sat up and swiped the long, dark tendrils of hair from her face it all came back. _"Night, night mummy." _ She had whispered sleepily.

How embarrassing. Lailah had called a woman she had only known for a number of months mum! Frantically she searched her bedroom for her cell. Finding it on the floor of her bedroom she swiped it up and into the palm of her hand. Looking at the screen her mood immediately flared. Flat. Her bloody phone was _flat_! When she needed it the most, the piece of crap was flat.

After a moment of self pity she pulled the covers off and got out of bed, shivering as her feet hit the cold, wooden floor. A quick shower had her stood in front of the small mirror she owned, facing her worst enemy, herself. It's not that she was ugly by any means... just gawky.

With long, dark brown hair reaching her ass, a skinny figure, slightly crooked teeth and brown eyes that had dulled to a slight hazel, Lailah wasn't the most stunning girl yet not the ugliest. Turning away from the mirror, away from her own judgemental eyes, she rapidly donned a black singlet, tattered blue jeans that sat snugly on her hips, and a grey hoodie she had found in goodwill over the other side of town. Sitting across her chest was the words 'Harvard University' and what she could only presume was the Harvard crest.

After slapping on some lip balm, thick black eyeliner and just a touch of mascara, her feet pounded in rapid succession down the hallway and into the lounge room. In there she slumped down on the old, dirty couch and tugged her ruined black converses over mismatched socks.

Once fully dressed, Lailah made a mad dash for the bus stop and only just made it in time to catch the bus headed to Steph's house. Steph had been her best friend since primary school. They had one thing in common, their lack of parents. By the time they had met, Lailah had already been thrust into the unkind world of foster homes while Steph had been adopted. They seemed to hate each other, Lailah couldn't stand the way Steph always seemed to be pushing her glasses up her nose, and in turn Steph hated how Lailah was always staring at her.

After a year of hating each other and constant threats of violence on both parts the teachers took a stand. Both sets of parents were called in and told of the situation. Steph was told that she was grounded while Lailah was dragged out of the office by her collar. With a longing look back to the unharmed girl standing and watching in horror at the situation unfolding, Lailah gave in and followed dutifully.

The next day Lailah turned up at school. She shouldn't have. Bruises, cuts and other abrasions marred her skin. The teaches paid attention and so did her former enemy. Steph plopped down next to Lailah at recess time and shared her rollup and chips with the hungry girl. That was when they became best friends.

From that day onwards Lailah would catch the bus to Stephanie's every morning, they would gossip about life for an hour, grab the lunches that Steph's mum would make for each of them every day and then run to the curb just in time for Steph's dad to pick them up on his way through to work. Steph's parents had split when she was thirteen years old. After a lot of discussion, Lailah and Steph had decided that it was probably a better idea that she stay with her mum and visit her dad.

Today was frantic though. Not like the mornings normally were. Lailah almost missed the bus, fell in a pile of mud on the run to Steph's house, almost got run over on at least three different roads, and then when she finally got to her best friend's house she had no time to tell her of the crazy night she'd had because at that moment Steph's dad pulled up and honked the horn. Running like a mad woman across the busy street, Lailah tumbled into the back seat through the opposite door to her best mate. As soon as both doors slammed and Steph threw a graffiti cover lunch box at her friend, Lailah launched into her story, breathlessly. "You... *gasp* Will... *gulp* Not... *wheeze* Believe... *sigh* the night I had..."

On the twenty minute drive to school, Lailah managed to cover all bases of her night, slightly leaving Steph confused. "So... let me see if I have this right..." Lailah nodded for Steph to go on. "...out of nowhere you just..." Steph began to wildly gesture with her hands and Lailah mocked her, as always. "... Called Lorelai _mom_!" Steph's 'accent' slipped through. She claimed to have gotten it through watching too much television but it was highly doubtful. She only put it on when she remembered.

"Yes!" Lailah stressed. "And now I have no idea what to do about it. I mean, it was weird!" by this point her hands were madly scrubbing at her hair in frustration. Good thing she didn't really care about her hair. So long as it was kept washed and clean, it seemed to do its own thing pretty well and almost always looked as if she had taken time to put it that way.

Steph looked on, still confused. Her best friend was so insistent that it was weird that she should call Lorelai 'mum' but... "You said it felt right though."

"It did." Lailah said exasperatedly while she spun to her locker and flipped it opened. "It's just that it's _weird_! I mean, I have nothing but a facebook and phone conversation with this woman and I'm calling her something so personal and it's just creepy of me."

Steph reached into Lailah's locker and pulled out their shared copy of Macbeth for advanced English. "Well then fix it. You said you had her number. Just call her already, I love you and all but seriously..." Steph grabbed the other brunette's shoulders and made her look at her. Brown eyes met brown and Lailah could tell something was about to come out that would set her straight. "Stop with the bloody whining. So what, you made a mistake, now fix it!"

And there it was. Typical Steph. Blunt and yet still sympathetically kind.

A deep sigh escaped Lailah's lips as she swiped her mate's hands off of her arms. "I would but my phone went flat when I dropped it while it was still technically on the phone to her. She hung up but I didn't so it ate my battery like nothing."

Steph flicked her arm out of the backpack strap over her shoulder and dug in the front pocket of her bag. When she zipped up the pocket and turned to face Lailah she was clutching her iPhone four. "Use mine."

At first Lailah was hesitant to take the complicated device and use all of her friend's credit but then she remembered that Steph would be getting more immediately in three days. The twentieth of every month. She snatched the phone out of her friend's hand, thanking her silently and made her way outside as Steph went to talk with their other best friend, Liss.

When outside, near the oval and completely alone Lailah punched in the number, the area code, the connection pin and the international call pin for Lorelai's phone. After a couple minutes of odd ringing, a groggy, sleep filled voice answered the phone. "Hello?" Lorelai muttered.

"Um, hello? It's Lailah."

She could hear the moment Lorelai sat up and became interested in the phone call. There was a small grunt, complaint from Luke and a heavy sigh, followed through with a bright voice. "What's wrong Honey, you okay?" the care was still there and Lailah felt even odder calling. _It felt right!_ So why was she apologizing?

"Yeah, everything's fine." There was only breathing for a moment and then she hesitantly continued on. "Um... I just wanted to apologize for what I said earlier." She could almost hear Lorelai trying to figure out what the young girl was talking about. Lailah decided to fill her in before Lorelai hurt her tired head. "I shouldn't have called you mum like that." Lailah took pause and felt the sadness rising in her. "I'm sorry."

Lorelai immediately jumped in, saving the day as usual, "its okay sweetie. It felt good. I'm always here for you, no matter what. You call me whenever you need, you tell me whatever is on your pretty little mind, and you call me whatever you want."

A heavy sob ripped through Lailah and she knew that she had to disconnect. She was getting far too attached to this woman who lived all the way across the other side of the planet and could quite easily disappoint and ruin her. Lorelai had obviously heard the sob and once again spoke, this time more awake. "What's wrong Lai?" there was no answer, just a string of sobs which were held together by gasped breaths. "Why are you crying, baby?" it was a nickname that she had never had before and it made her heart jerk.

Lailah so badly wanted this woman to save her. To take her away from this place and take care of her like the mother she had always wanted.

Lailah had always been a dreamer.

Catching her breath enough to speak, Lailah finally answered, letting out all of her fears. "You could hurt me Lorelai. I don't think you would but the possibility and ability is there. I have to just let go because I love you. I want you to be my mummy. I want to come to you with my boy troubles and I want you to kiss my emotional 'boo-boo's' better with ice cream and lollies. I want nothing more than to feel your arms around me and that's why I have to say goodbye. I'm too attached and I only get let down when that happens."

Another sob wracked through Lailah and she finally finished off, already pulling the phone away from her ear. "Bye, bye mummy. Love you."

She ended the call. She sunk to the floor. She cried. She let go.

She broke for the first time in years. The first thing she thought about was the way Lorelai had calmed her with their secret lullaby and quelled all of her fears the other night and she wanted nothing more than to hear that voice again.

**R&R please. Xx Banana Flavored Lemonade (Bec)**

**Ps. I am going to start on chapter 3 now. I just feel so motivated to write… it's crazy!**


	3. Chapter 3

Hey guys, I have written chapter 3 except it's on my computer. You'll probably be able to have it in a couple of days. This is just me putting a little update out there for all my amazing readers. :D I'm absolutely cracking this fic out. So motivated still.

I'm off to do a photo shoot with my friend for her to-be company in a minute so maybe I'll pump another chapter out when I get home and make it a double whammy for everyone. All the best yal. Xx

Ps. Here is another quote... Get this one and I'll write whatever you ask me to. Must be Once Upon a Time, GG, or Buffy. Okay...

"Well then don't shit the bed-excuse the expression- be the guy who made the bed legendary." -?

Know it? Well then PM me quickly!


	4. Chapter 4

_**Okay, here you go guys... thank you for being so patient with me. I just got a microSD adapter so now i can write on my comp and upload with my blackberry. This means quicker updates for everyone. :D keep the reviews coming. Thanks everyone for all the great ones so far, they really do make me write quicker as i know that you're all enjoying reading as much as i am writing. Okay, to here goes...**_

As she entered the school hallway again, Lailah became aware of the looks she was being cast. Everybody was staring at her, shocked. _Crap_ she thought and began to frantically scrub at her eyes. When she pulled her hands away they were covered in black gunk from her eyes. _Maybe the mascara and eyeliner wasn't such a good idea._ After she had cleaned her eyes up hastily with only a tiny blush mirror for guidance, Lailah made her way over to her two best friends.

Liss had met Steph and Lailah at the start of high school and they'd become fast friends. Liss's real name is Lisa but when she first got her braces and tried to introduce herself to the teacher, it just came out as an odd hissing noise. From then on they had called her Liss.

As she met up with them, they took on a look of concern and went in to hug her. Lailah quickly pushed them away and handed Steph's phone back, explaining that she shouldn't answer any unknown numbers.

Later that day, Lailah met back up with Steph to head home. At first she was frosty to her but then quickly thawed as she realised that it wasn't here fault and she was being unnecessarily cruel to the one person who had always been there for her.

As they headed to the front of the school to be picked up by Steph's mum, they spoke animatedly about how Grace, the school plastic, had fallen down the two-step stairs out front of the woodwork building and claimed to have broken her leg. As they climbed in the car, Amy, Steph's mum asked if Lailah wanted to stay for dinner. She quickly accepted and was told, sternly to call home and tell her 'parents'.

After making the call and being told in no uncertain terms that she would be doing housework when she got home, Lailah pulled out her headphones and plugged them into Steph's phone, switching it back on and going to hit the iPod app. She stopped short though when she spotted a notification over the message icon. Knowing that Steph always let her read her text messages, she opened the icon and was met with a familiar number. Lorelai.

Opening the text messages, she read through them;

_**Lorelai:  
Lai, answer your phone. What is it?**_

_**You:  
This is Steph, Lai's best friend. What happened? She told me not to answer your calls. **_

_**Lorelai:  
I'm not even sure, she just called me and freaked out. She said something about me hurting her?...**_

_**You:  
Was she talking about having called you mum?**_

_**Lorelai:  
Yeah… I couldn't really understand. She was talking so quickly.**_

_**You:  
Yeah, she gets like that when she's upset. I think she was talking about how she's gotten attached to you.**_

_**Lorelai:  
So? I'm attached to her too. She's a great kid. **_

_**You:  
Exactly but she doesn't see that, She only sees the bad. You need to understand that she's always getting hurt. It takes a lot for her to let somebody in. you're lucky you got this far.**_

_**Lorelai:  
She seemed as if she was really getting somewhere. **_

_**You:  
She was, she was smiling more and always happy. It was good in an odd kind of way.**_

_**Lorelai:  
I hope she isn't too bad atm.**_

_**You:  
She's pretty crushed. This was probably the hardest disconnection she has every had to do. She really does love you like a mum.**_ _**She's never really had that, I mean, sure, she has my mum but it isn't the same.**_

_**Lorelai:  
I just want to see her happy.**_

_**You:  
I think that for that to happen, you just need to let her be.**_

_**Lorelai:  
I can't just forget about her. She's too special to me.**_

_**You:  
I can keep you updated if you'd like.**_

_**Lorelai:  
Yes please. **_

_**You:  
Okay, well I'll answer your txt messages but don't call or txt Lai. I don't think she can deal with it. **_

_**Lorelai:  
Thank you so much! Xx**_

_**You:  
Any time. Xx**_

That was the last text of that conversation. That ended at exactly 1:23pm and there had been no further discussion which Lailah was grateful for. Then her attention was drawn to the most recent message from Lorelai. It had come in merely minutes ago.

_**Lorelai:  
How is she?**_

Lailah took it upon herself to set them both in their places. Hitting dial she put the phone to her ear and frowned at the prolonged ringing and then a breathless voice sounded. It was Lorelai. "Hello? Steph?" she was still panting and Lailah wondered what had her so worn out.

Taking in a deep breath, Lailah answered haughtily. "No, it's Lai! Why are you talking to Steph about me?"

"Because, we care about you Honey. I just want to know you're safe." Lorelai sounded as if she was pleading with the younger brunette. It was almost heartbreaking. Lailah didn't let her guard down enough to have her heart broken by anything, let alone somebody's tone of voice.

Lailah's breathing got deeper as she got more frustrated and tears built in her eyes. "I'm safe, I'm fine and I will be happy. That is if you will leave me be!"

Lorelai's voice came through again and tipped the tears over. "I will leave you be then, just promise you will call me if _anything _happens. No matter what, if you need me, I'll be there, or at least my voice will." Lorelai took in a choked breath. "Promise me."

Lailah gathered all of her strength and whispered back, "I promise."

Lailah ended the call and turned towards the shocked gazes of Steph and her mum. "What?" she barked harshly. She knew that Amy didn't deserve it but Steph definitely did. What she had done was unthinkable. People had been invading her privacy and showing her no respect ever since she could remember but she never thought she's have to deal with it from her _Best Friend_!

Finally Steph's mum spoke calmly and sweetly, "Hey, what's wrong?" the only thing Lailah could think about the while Amy was trying to soothe her was that it wouldn't work. She spoke full words, she didn't speak with an accented drawl, and she didn't have the right way of quipping through the stressful times.

With another snap, Lailah answered, "What's wrong is that Steph is going behind my back and ruining everything!" next she turned her icy gaze to Steph, "Why could you not just let it be? You know me. You know how hard this is!" Taking a break, Lailah drew in a shaky breath and continued, "You know me better than anyone Steph, why did you do it?" Lailah ended, staring deeply into her best friend's eyes, seeking an honest answer.

Steph stared right back at her, completely stone-faced. "She's what you need Lai, and I seriously don't think she'll hurt you. You know how she thinks of you." after pushing her glasses up her nose again, Steph spoke again. "I think that maybe you should lower the walls and maybe let someone other than me in."

It was a lot to take in. Her best friend was saying that she was a loner-recluse, just in a more 'Steph' way. Lailah rubbed a hand over her face, focussing on her eyes and temples with a gentle rub. When she looked up, her face was both cold and tired. It was momentarily shut down. "Take me home?" she quietly requested.

Amy nodded an appeasing smile on her face. "Sure sweetie, whatever you want." The word 'sweetie' sent a pang to Lailah's heart and she shivered.

"Thanks" she managed to croak out.

As soon as they arrived at Lailah's house, she climbed out of the car without so much as a 'goodbye' and made her way inside. Once in the door Joe came stumbling over to her, completely blind drunk. "What are you doing here? I thought you were going out." He slurred.

"Well I am so I'll just go to my room. Go back to the kitchen." Lailah said, completely over-looking the rage that covered his features.

His hand grabbed her arm and she hoped he'd not drunk enough to do anything too bad. As she was spun around to meet him, she knew it wouldn't be as bad as some other times. Maybe a few bumps and bruises to cover up but nothing she couldn't handle. No scars. One swift crack to her face had it done and he spoke through gritted teeth. "Don't smart moth me girl!" he took pause to wipe his mouth of the spaghetti and Jim Beam. "I have company coming so you need to be gone!"

"Okay" Lailah answered, defeated. "Just give me a minute to grab my phone and some other shoes.

"Alright." He agreed.

Lailah quickly made her way up the hallway, retrieving her black ugg boots and mobile phone from its charger. Upon her return to the lounge room she found Joe shirtless, digging through the piles of clean-previously folded-clothes on the couch. He was making a complete mess of her perfect housework and she bitterly thought of how she would have to re-fold everything.

Quickly leaving the house, she made her way to the park just down the street; close enough to see when his 'company' had left. That's exactly where she found herself at twelve am that same night. After she had huddled up in the small tunnel, knees tucked up in her jumper, she pulled her mobile out and let her hope soar.

Dialling the familiar number, Lailah listened intently as it rang on. Finally a voice answered. "Hey baby girl, what's with you changin' your mind all the time?"

Lailah didn't answer the questioning, she simply muttered, "Tell me something, anything to make me feel better than I do right now." She closed her eyes and pictured Lorelai's caring blue eyes and graceful features.

One line echoed through the phone as Lorelai answered her. "I love you baby girl." Lailah smiled and closed her eyes, ending the call and waiting out the cold until she could go home, a sweet heat lulling around her being after Lorelai's line.

_**So I hope you enjoyed it... Steph will be getting chopped out soon because the girl i was basing her on has just gone kaput and cut all ties with me... don't ask me why. So, to the chase... here is your next quote: "Juliet had it easy, she never had to kill Romeo." -? This one s from a book... you get it, PM me. Now you can choose between me writing a fic for you or featuring in one of my standing fics. **_

_**Ps. Please tell me if you want me to work on any of my incomplete fics.. I can't write what you want me to if I don't know. **_

_**Thanks, enjoy. Xx Banana flavoured lemonade (bec)**_


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey guys, so second update in an hour... i am GOOD! I say update because chapter 3 has been written for a couple days now. Hope you like this chapter and PuppiesRcute, I got your review. Congrats on being the first to review chapter 3. It's funny that my phone should inform me just as I was finishing up this chapter. PM me to receive your reward for being a great follower. I will work on a fic of your choice and upload tonight... get in quick ;)**

**Enjoy everyone... I got eaten by mosquito's for you all. :P**

Lailah awoke later that morning, freezing cold and possessing an ache that spread from her lower back to her neck that she'd not fallen asleep with. After climbing out of the small child's tunnel and cracking everything she could, a glance at her phone had her running. _Shit, shit, shit! _She was late, actually, beyond late. She was uber-late! As she ran across the road to her house, she became aware of the flashing light on her blackberry.

As quickly and gracefully as she could while running, Lailah unlocked it and checked what was causing the annoying light to blink at her. _Twelve missed calls_. Five from Lorelai, two from Liss, and five from Steph. Typing in a message, she added all three recipients to the send to list. "_I'm fine. Just overslept. May need a good crack-down later tho."_ She joked.

Coming to the front door Lailah was presented with her first obstacle. The front door. It was locked. Not wanting to wake Joe with her knocking, Lailah simply turned on her heels and headed to the bus stop. As soon as she sat on the tacky metal bench and pulled her jacket off, having developed a set of nasty pit-patches of sweat and a huge run of it down her back, she realised that if she didn't have her bag, she also didn't have her bus ticket. As she sat and relaxed, the thought crossed her mind that the day could not possibly get any worse. And then it did.

Last night had been cold, that was a given, but what she hadn't noticed in her haste to get to school, was that it had rained. It had obviously rained hard. As the bus pulled up, a wave of disgusting street water swept over her. _Great! It just keeps getting better and better. _Drenched and thoroughly pissed off to the point of tears, Lailah stood and began to walk in the direction of the service station. Maybe she could use their bathroom and then buy a bottle of water.

The main road came into sight and her phone went off. It was Steph: "_Girl, where are you? Mr. P is pissed with a capital P!" _

Lailah quickly replied with: "_don't know how long I'll b. Tell Mr. P tht I overslept. Oh, and tell him that the aliens stole my homework again ;) that oughta give u some entertainment till I get there."_

Steph's reply was instant: "_oh, of course. Well hurry up."_

The Servo came into view and Lailah blew out a relieved breath. The service station was a small, independent one that operated under no strict guidelines. _Robs' Fuels. _ The sign read. As she entered, another relieved breath fell from her lips. Jason, the regular attendant was working the cash register. Jason knew all about Lailah and her life and was always offering her help and letting her get away with stuff that normal customers couldn't. "Hey Jase." She muttered feebly as her stumbling walk ended and she fell onto the counter top.

Jason looked at her quizzically and lifted her arm by her middle finger, jokingly letting it fall to the counter again as she groaned. "Hey there." he began. After a seconds thought, he reached over the counter and pulled his hand back with a kit-Kat grasped tightly in his long fingers. Opening the packet and waving it under Lailah's nose, he let out a satisfied laugh when she straightened up and grabbed the bar out of his hands. It was only when she was about to put the chocolate in her mouth that she raised her eyebrows in question. "On me." Jason answered with another laugh.

Lailah eat the bar quickly and greedily. When she was finished she blew out a satisfied moan and stood up straighter, cracking her back along the way. "I have had the day from _Hell_!" she groaned.

"I can see." Jason answered and was quickly answered with a swift yet soft slap to his head. A smile graced his tanned face and he pointed to the right corner of the roof where a camera sat. Lailah's attention also went there. "You'd better watch it, might just get arrested for assault."

Lailah let out a sarcastic laugh and drummed her hands on the counter, just now remembering her need to pee and wanting the try and dry her t-shirt under the hand dryer. "Can I use the toilet?" she asked sweetly, knowing he'd give in.

"Yeah, sure." Jase smiled and handed her the keys. Lailah summoned him forward and he lent as far over the counter as he could without climbing on top of it. A light kiss was planted on his cheek and then Lailah was gone from sight.

The bathroom was small but well up-kept. There was always fresh, well padded toilet paper in the cubicles and outside, next to the basin was a big metal box that contained free pads and tampons. It wasn't normal for this to be an appendage in a public bathroom but Rob's wife had insisted that it was absurd to expect women to pay for something so important and necessary. After peeing, Lailah left the cubicle and washed her hands, welcoming the warm water and strong scent of lavender that the soap let off.

With her hands dried, bladder empty, and hands warmed, Lailah removed her hoodie and tank top, standing in her black bra and jeans. Her Jumper was a goner, a lost cause, that was a given that she could live with. Her tank top however could be saved. She turned the hand dryer on and held her top underneath the warm breeze, it was drying, and quickly. _Thank God!_ She thought with relief.

When it was dry, she slipped it on and exited the toilets, grabbing a litre bottle of water on her way to the counter and flipping it in the air. As she reached the counter, she dumped the bottle on near the scanner and began digging through her pocket for the $4.50 that she'd had last night. Finally finding it, she scattered the handful of change next to the bottle and watched as Jason's eyes widened. "You know what, I get paid tomorrow. I'll just get 'em to take it out of that." Jason said, pushing the pile of cash towards Lailah.

A frown came across her features but she let out a laugh at his laziness and smiled in appreciation.

As she left, she water bottle was cracked open and she drank greedily from the spout and sighed in relief as her thirst was quenched. Putting the lid back on and sliding the bottle under her arm, Lailah drew her phone from her back pocket and swiped the damp screen over her dry stomach. A new message had come through: _"Glad you're okay, Honey. Get to school."_ It was Lorelai, acting as caring and parental as ever.

Instead of texting back, Lailah simply hit the green phone button and waited for Lorelai to answer.

"_**Hello?" **_ Lorelai said, a smile evident in her voice and a laugh bubbling through her voice.

"_**Hey."**_ Lailah quickly answered.

"_**Oh, hey Lai. Didn't look at the caller id. How are you?"**_ an actual laugh came through the phone and then there was some scuttling and the sound of feet hitting the wooden floor. Was Lorelai _running?_

"_**Hey Lorelai. What's happening? I'm good."**_ Lailah was simply walking in the direction of her school, dragging her feet and kicking a jagged rock along the road.

Another laugh came through the line and it made Lailah smile. She'd never really hear Lorelai laugh like that, so carefree and happy. _**"No, Luke!"**_ Lorelai laughed/screamed, _**"Lailah is on the phone, Luke. Put me DOWN!"**_ there was another laugh and then Lorelai finally answered her, _**"oh, Luke's just chasing me around the house, trying to make me eat broccoli." **_Another laugh sounded and then the sound of a door opening and closing came.

Lailah stopped walking and sat on the park bench she had just come across. A laugh came from her and she realised that Lorelai was making her day better. _**"Why would he do that?" **_

"_**Because..."**_ Lorelai paused and there was the sound of thumping against a door and another laugh from Lorelai. _**".. I put ice-cream in his mouth while he was sleeping earlier."**_ Another pounding could be heard and then Luke's voice came through the line. _**"Yeah, and I woke up with it all over my chest and face."**_ Lorelai laughed heartily at that and let out a squeal of surprise as a more powerful pound resonated down the line. _**"I thought it would be funny." **_Her voice took on a slightly more deflated tone as she finished off her thought, _**"that was until he rolled over and got it on my favourite Minnie mouse sheets."**_

Trying to get Lorelai back to her more playful self, Lailah suggested, "_**Why don't you just was them?"**_

"_**Because, it was chocolate ice-cream."**_

Lailah let out a laugh at that. _**"Serves you right." **_

Lorelai's voice took a while to come back down the phone but when it did, Lailah cracked up again, _**"I hope you know that I was just poking my tongue out at you just then." **_

"_**Oh, I'm wounded."**_ Lailah smiled jokingly.

Lorelai laughed at that and then went quiet for a second. _**"It's good to hear you laugh Lai."**_ She commented.

Lailah took a moment and then answered from her heart, _**"it's good to laugh."**_

She could almost hear it when Lorelai turned back into her more mothering role and stopped playing around. _**"hey, aren't you meant to be at school missy?"**_ her comment was less joking that before but more joking than she usually was when using that tone.

A sigh escaped Lailah's lips and she slumped in defeat. _**"Yes."**_

"_**Well?"**_ Lorelai prodded.

"_**I've had the worst morning ever and it's only..."**_ Lailah pulled the phone away from her ear and looked at the time, _**"... 11 am."**_

Lorelai gave a disappointed tut and then gave a speech Lailah had heard Steph's mum give a million times before. _**"We all have bad day's Lailah but you know what, we don't just give up. You need to get to school and learn."**_

"_**I don't have my backpack, I don't have my uniform, I have the worst back and neck ache ever and I'm completely drenched apart from my tank which is really not doing all that much to warm me up."**_ It was almost a cry for help but Lailah knew that not much could be done from all the way in America.

Lorelai could be heard groaning and probably running her hand down her face in resignation. _**"Give me your schools number."**_ She demanded softly.

Lailah smiled in relief and sat straighter, _**"really?" **_she asked anxiously.

"_**Yes."**_ Lorelai groaned. _**"You're lucky I know what you're feeling right now. I've had days like yours and I wish I had someone as fabulous as me back then."**_

Lailah laughed again, _**"Yes, fabulous."**_ Then she pulled the phone away from her ear, scrolling through her contacts until she reached the school's number. Quickly repeating it to Lorelai, she waited until the line went quiet and then listened intently as Lorelai spoke to the reception lady.

"_**Hello?... this is Lorelai Gilmore, I'm calling to let the school know that Lailah James will not be in today... yes, I know this is an American number... no, I'm not with her at the moment... yes I'm sure it's okay with her guardian... could you please just go with me here... I don't care about your protocol, I'm a concerned mother and I want you to let my daughter off today... yes, I'm her mother... just because I'm not with her doesn't mean that I can't excuse her from school... just take this down, okay: Lailah James has been excused from school for the day by her birth mother. Okay, that simple enough for you... thank you too, it's been a treat." **_

"_**Hello?"**_ Lorelai asked down the phone to Lailah.

Lailah answered quickly, _**"thank you."**_

A groan came from the other end of the line and Lailah knew that Lorelai wasn't completely pleased with her, _**"that's okay but I'm not doing that again. You got it?"**_

"_**Yes."**_

"_**Okay."**_ Lorelai said, still in her mum-tone. _**"Now, go home and do your homework or something. There will be no lazing around today." **_It wasn't a request, it was a command.

Lailah smiled, saluted (even though Lorelai couldn't see it) and sat up straighter. _**"Yes sir."**_ It was playful but her tone quickly changed to one which was more sincere, _**"thank you again."**_

"_**That's okay sweetheart, now scoot. I'll talk to you later."**_ Lorelai's smile was evident in her voice.

Still smiling, Lailah answered her, _**"Okay, see ya."**_

With that the call ended and Lailah quickly texted Steph and Liss, _"Not coming today. Gonna do some hm study."_

No answers came through as Lailah made her way home and, sure enough, the door was still locked. As she climbed through the toilet window, the thought occurred to her that maybe she should hide a spare key outside for the next time this happened. Her bedroom was trashed again, clearly Joe had been looking for something to hock late last night. The problem was that she didn't have anything left. He'd already hocked it all, for alcohol none the less. After wading through the piles of clothes and riff-raff, she stumbled onto her bed. Her backpack seemed lighter than before and looking into it, she realised why. All of her textbooks had been stolen. Great, three-hundred bucks worth of books that she couldn't afford to replace.

She took out her phone and took a photo of her half-empty bag. Typing in; _"no textbooks. Joe sold 'em. I am so screwed."_

"_Get the school to call me and I'll pay to replace them. Your education is important. Work on anything you can today and I should have it sorted by tomorrow."_ Was Lorelai's reply and Lailah grinned, grateful that someone was looking out for her.

**R&R please. Loving the feedback. Ps. I'm going to kill Steph off next chapter, this one sort of just happened and I let it go. **


	6. AN

There has just been this crazy uproar of support from all you guys lately so I'm going to bypass sleep tonight and pump out another chapter... Now to pee, get a drink, find my headphones and get to work... I hope you all realise the sacrifice I am making for you. I have to be at school by 8:25am and it's already 3:30am. Let's see how many chapters I can get out before I have to go shall we. :P

New quote... This is a good and easy one... It's from GG so I want a character 1 and a character 2 name, the season and the episode title. The prize can be your pick of a new fic, featuring in a standing one, or me working on one of your choice.

1- "Late again I see."

2- "*gasp* yes, I hope I'm not pregnant."

Ps it's one of my favourite quotes so somebody quickly jump on it ;)


	7. Chapter 7

**Okay, you asked for it so here it is. The next chapter, and this one leads up to the ultimate meeting you've all been waiting for. Have fun. ;D thank you for all of my wonderful reviews. **

As Lailah walked into the school, all she could think about was the fact that she'd have to face Ms Davidson, the school librarian.

Ms Davidson knew everything about Lailah, from her mother abandoning her to Joe often kicking her out. It was even harder to face somebody who knew your deepest, darkest secrets. With anybody else Lailah would just put on a facade of indifference and power through the awkward pauses, grumble through the concerned gestures and laugh away the hurt of rejection when they told her they couldn't help her anymore. With ms Davidson though, she couldn't use any coping mechanism, all she could do was walk in as herself and leave as herself, heart and soul opened to the world.

The library doors felt heavy as she tried to push through them and into a place of only mild judgment. Coming around to the counter, Lailah stood up taller and greeted the middle-aged woman warmly. "Hey."

A light brown head of hair spun to meet her as a smile crept onto her features and her posture slacked a little, relaxing in the comforting environment. "Well hello there Lailah." Ms Davidson greeted. "So I hear that you've had a mishap with your textbooks."

Lailah's chin fell to her chest in shame. "Yeah" she began but quickly continued, "but Lorelai's replacing them. She said to call her and she'd pay."

The librarian smiled warmly and actually turned around, arms filled with textbooks of all sorts. There was a business one, a maths one, a tourism one, a science one, and a history book. On top of the pile was also a brand new, barcode free copy of Macbeth. "Yes." Said the older woman, "I've heard." There was a wink in her expression and the pile of books fell to the desk with a heavy thump, mildly scattering.

Lailah watched in horror as each and every book was checked out in her name and the copy of Macbeth was merely put on top of the pile. "What? All these? I didn't have all of these before." Shocked was a word that came to mind when she tried to put her feelings in order.

"I know." Muttered the woman warmly, "Lorelai just wanted you to be prepared for next semester. I also mentioned to her how you were sharing a copy of Macbeth with Steph and she decided that she'd rather you have your own copy, and she also insisted that it be new and not part of the schools property." Lailah's eyes grew wider and a smile overtook her face. "Also" ms Davidson added as Lailah started packing her bag full of the heavy books. "I've heard through the grapevine that she purchased you a new uniform and paid your school fees until the end of next year."

Lailah was in awe. Lorelai had done so much for her already, why this too. The question rolled around her mind as she left the library with a small "goodbye" to ms Davidson and almost tripped out the door. Making her way over to the uniform shop, Lailah became aware of just how badly she needed the new clothes. Her uniform was only just holding together after four years of use, the seams were torn and everything was too small which, honestly wasn't that bad of a thing.

As she entered the tiny portable building, she was met with an employee who gave her biggest grin and muttered in an overly sweet voice, "how may I help you?"

Lailah grinned back, half genuine and half mocking, "There should be some clothes here for me, paid for."

"What name was that?" Asked the assistant.

The reply fell from her tongue before she could think. "Lailah Gilmore." The attendant went behind the desk and looked. A frown creasing her features.

"We don't have a Lailah Gilmore, only a Lailah James."

Lailah's head snapped back as she realized her mistake and quickly corrected herself, "James, that's what I meant, sorry."

The attendant who's name tag read 'Heidi' frowned again and then asked for some id, just to be sure that someone else's property wasn't being claimed. Lailah produced her school card and smiled shyly, knowing the photo was overly un flattering. Her hair had gone unwashed as she'd spent the night at the park, her face was covered in ugly zits and her uniform had dirty spots all over it. "Okay, this way."

Lailah was taken over to the clothes racks and asked her t-shirt size, pants size and jumper size. When she had given her sizes; 8 pant, 10 top, 10 jumper, and 8 skirt, she was handed one of everything. Literally, and a pair of the black leather 'T bar' school shoes.

Lailah changed into the short sleeved polo shirt, knit jumper, navy skirt, new socks and T bars. She felt all new and shiny. New and shiny deserved a new hairstyle. Pulling the black hair tie from her freshly washed hair, Lialah let the waves fall down her back. After leaving he dressing room, old clothes in hand, she asked the attendant to take a photo of her.

Lailah posed with her handful of old clothes over the trash can and one hand on her hip, a huge grin covering her features and shining through her eyes. As soon as the photo was snapped and saved, she dumped the clothes in the bin and attached the picture to a txt message, "_thank you so much. Xx" _ she sent the message to Lorelai and then left, slightly overwhelmed by her heavy backpack and the two plastic bags that weighed down her arms. Her phone began to ring and Lailah glanced at the caller id before answering eagerly. "Hello?"

A cheery voice came through the line, _**"I take it you like them?" **_Lorelai asked slightly nervous. She could tell you what was in with casual work wear but she had no idea what the kids were wearing at school. She had just told the woman on the phone to purchase one of everything, including the most popular girls shoes they stocked and to pay for all of Lailah's books for the year.

Lailah's voice was wavering, in happiness thought, not sadness like almost every other time, _**"Are you kidding, I love it. I cannot believe you did this. Well I guess I can because you said you would but I didn't expect clothes and extra books. Thank you so much Lorelai."**_

As the tears started to happily cascade down her cheeks, Lailah sniffed and then listened as Lorelai spoke, _**"Well I needed to take care of my second favouritest girl, didn't I"**_ it was a rhetorical question but Lailah still replied.

"_**I guess but this is too much, I mean the shoes are a hundred dollars on their own. I couldn't get the knit jumper because it was too expensive and I know my school fees have got to be crazy expensive."**_ A scoff rang through the line and Lailah was taken aback, not sure what Lorelai was making that noise for. _**"What?"**_

Lorelai let out a small laugh at Lailah's questioning tone. _**"You think your school fees are bad? Trust me hunny, five-hundred bucks is nothing. Rory's school fees were five thousand dollars. And her uniform; one skirt was a hundred and twenty. Your whole uniform only cost me four hundred. You have nothing to worry about." **_It was very Lorelai-centric **(Little thing there for Iscah McKrae) **to just spend money willy-nilly and not really care about it. Although, the American dollar was something like double the Australian dollar so maybe it really wasn't that big of a deal.

"_**Thank you again Lorelai. It's nice to be cared about**_." Lailah grinned cheerily.

Lorelai laughed again but was cut off with a yawn which was stifled as much as she could. _**"That's okay sweetie, now get to class and use your books. I am going to bed."**_ Lorelai cheekily continued with, _**"Haven't been getting much sleep lately, had some brat calling me at all hours of the night." **_

Lailah laughed cheekily and spoke down the line, _**"Goodnight Lorelai, don't let the bed bugs bite."**_

A heartfelt laugh came from the other side of the phone. _**"Na, I'm too sweet for them. Talk to you later baby."**_

The phone call ended and Lailah made her way to her locker, jamming as much of her clothes as she could in the small space. From behind her, Lailah heard some snickering and whispered words. A quick spin on her heels had her facing Grace and her two other little plastics, Isabella and Nikole. "What? Something funny?" Snapped Lailah, her hands slamming the crammed locker shut.

Grace looked at each of her sidekicks before answering haughtily, "just wondering who took pity on the orphan-looser."

The nickname didn't hurt nearly as much as the comment in a whole. Lailah had been the 'orphan-looser' for a while now but to insinuate that Lorelai was pitying her hurt somewhere deep inside her chest. "Nobody is taking _pity_ on me!" she yelled.

"Sure looks like it." Grace sneered as she began to walk away, brushing past Lailah she whispered, "Besides, who could love someone like _you_!"

Lailah took a moment to try and calm herself but it wouldn't work. Doing the only thing she could do, she reached out and grabbed a fist full of bleached blonde hair and wrenched Grace to the ground, kneeling beside her and slapping her across the face as hard as she could. A crowd had gathered and the fight set off. The minions stood by in shock as Lailah went postal, punching, scratching, slapping, pulling hair and almost biting. After about ten minutes, teachers finally started to intervene.

The first person on scene was Mr. P. He pulled Lailah off of Grace and wrangled her down the hallway. Once they were in an empty classroom, Lailah began to take stock of her emotions. She was angry, she was upset, but most of all she was hurt. What if Grace was right and Lorelai was only taking pity on her? What if she really didn't care?

Libby, the school counselor who was a young, slightly rounded woman, came into the classroom and looked at Lailah who was hunched over, staring at her feet while tears steadily fell from her eyes. "You can go now." She dismissed Mr. P and he did as he was told, truthfully postal Lailah scared him. Not Libby though, she understood how shit the girls life was. "You okay?" Libby asked as she sat next to the weeping girl.

Lailah looked up through her dark hair, into the caring eyes of one of her only confidants. "no." she ground out. Libby slid her chair back, knowing that there was a fifty-fifty chance that Lai would skits. After only another moment, Lailah stood abruptly, flinging her chair back and starting to throw over tables, being careful not to break anything. There were ten casualties, three tables, five chairs, a ruler, a set of drawers and one poor glue stick that was now squished against the wall.

After her physical outburst, Lailah slid down the wall, sitting on the ground, pulling at her hair ferociously and crying unforgivingly. Libby hesitantly made her way over to the broken girl. "What is it?" Lailah let out more sobs and gasped for breath.

Words escaped her as the tears rolled and only one word left her lips. "Phone."

Libby seemed to understand, picking up Lailah's backpack from where she'd set it down and pulling out her phone. As soon as it was in her hands, Lailah scrolled to the contact entitled 'Lor-outdoor.' And hit call.

The phone rang for a couple of minutes before a tired voice answered. _**"Lai, it's late. What now?"**_

Lailah sobbed down the line. Lorelai didn't prod, only listened as Lailah's heart came through the phone. _**"Mummy."**_ She sobbed.

Lorelai snapped out of it. _**"Shh baby, it's alright, mummy's here." **_There was a sound from Lorelai's end, something akin to Luke asking what was wrong with Rory. Lorelai quietly whispered back, _**"It's Lai. I don't know what's wrong." **_

Lailah's sobs escalated and Libby looked on confused. Lailah's mum had never really been in the picture so who was she talking to? _**"Mummy, I did something bad."**_

"_**What baby? What did you do bad?"**_ Lorelai asked soothingly. She wanted so badly to take Lailah in her arms and sway back and forth, anything to calm her. A little voice echoed through the phone and Lorelai took a moment to realize that it was Lailah trying to answer. It came out as odd gasps and another choked sob. Lorelai needed answers. _**"Honey, put me onto someone else. Just for a minute." **_

Lailah pulled the phone away from her ear and stretched it out to Libby. At the loss of Lorelai's calming voice, she started to sob harder. _**"Hello, this is Libby speaking."**_

Lorelai pulled herself together a little and wiped at her tears, obviously being on the phone with a teacher. _**"Hello, this is Lorelai Gilmore. What's wrong with Lailah?"**_

Libby listened to the anxious voice on the other line and deduced that this person must care for Lailah a lot. _**"There has been a fight. One of the other girls made a comment to Lailah and she's having a minor breakdown. I think that you should come down here. She seems to be pretty dependant on you." **_

Lorelai frowned a bit, didn't this woman know where she was? After a second of thought, Lorelai pulled her laptop onto the bed and spoke back through the line. _**"I actually live in America but you tell Lailah that I'm coming for her." **_Clicking onto her banks website, Lorelai checked her balance and smiled at the figure. There was most definitely enough in there.

Libby's brow furrowed but she spoke again, _**"Here, you tell her yourself." **_The phone was passed back to the slightly calmer teen and quickly pressed to her ear.

"_**Yes?"**_ asked Lailah with a wobbly voice.

"_**I'm coming for you, okay. I'll be there as soon as I can."**_ Lorelai clicked onto the webjet link and quickly typed in her preferences.

A small smile came across Lailah's features and she calmed further_**. "Okay mummy. I'll see you soon." **_

Lorelai smiled and finished booking her ticket. _**"Okay baby. Hold tight, I'm coming." **_

The call ended, as all the others do. Lailah was smiling as she rose from the ground and collected her bag, waiting by Libby's side to be lead to the front office to be suspended. However, the woman merely gave a sad smile and lead her to the counseling area, telling her that she could stay there for the rest of the day.

That night Lailah signed in to facebook and was faced with Lorelai's facebook status;

_**Lorelai Gilmore-Danes  
**Can't wait for tomorrow. Now just to survive the twelve hour plane ride._

Lailah quickly typed back with;

_**Lailah James  
** Don't forget that you have the address in your phone. See you soon. Xx_

Another comment soon followed hers, one from Lorelai;

_**Lorelai Gilmore-Danes  
**I didn't forget, Luke reminded me but thanks anyways. Keep safe._

It took everything in her to simply write back with;

_**Lailah James  
**I will, I'm tough._

She went to bed that night, eagerly awaiting Lorelai's arrival. She'd have her mummy with her tomorrow. And as her eyes closed, she saw blue, and curls, and a bright smile, an a well manicured hand waving her off to dreamland.

**Dun, dun, duuuu… so next chapter is their meeting. I'm going to make that one double the length so it'll probably take double the time. I should be able to write most of it tomorrow as I have a hundred minute relief lesson which means free reign of the computer. :P **

**Here is this chapters quote. Now, I have too many stories to write so if you get this correct you can either star in one of my standing fics (your answerer PM must include your real name for me to use in the fic and what fic you want to be in *must be incomplete) or I will write another chapter to one of my fics *also must be incomplete. **

**Here we go… **

"**it's like a crime scene in my pants." -? Quick, only one winner so PM in quick!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Okay, so here it is... the meeting. I'm keeping this short as I know you'll all wanna start reading straight away. ENJOY!**

The sun was dully shining two days later, only having just risen but that wasn't what woke Lailah. On her bedside table her blackberry was bouncing around, vibrations alerting to a call. "Hello?" Lailah answered sleepily.

"_**Wake up sleeping beauty."**_ Came Lorelai's voice but it was much closer than what would come through the phone. This however did not connect in Lailah's tired mind.

Lailah sat up, eyes still clouded with sleep and dried tears. As her back lent against the wall behind her bed, she started to rub her eyes. _**"Oh, hey."**_ It was a sad, sleep ridden reply. Lailah had tried to stay awake the whole night, just waiting for Lorelai's call to tell her she'd gotten in safely to the airport. _**"You landed okay?"**_ her eyes still were not cleared.

Lorelai laughed and ended the call. _**"Yep. A-okay."**_ Lailah still had the phone plastered to her ear and was rubbing her eyes. _**"You okay though?"**_ she asked.

A small sob ripped through Lai's body and she jerked forward. _**"No. When you getting here?"**_ it was desperate and Lorelai's heart broke.

Moving to the side of her bed, Lorelai spoke close to the ear which wasn't connected to the phone, "You really need to pay attention."

Lailah snapped back at the feel of breath on her face and the familiar voice so close. She was there. Her Lorelai was there, in her room. Taking stock of the small space Lailah frowned through her awed tears. Her _messy_ room. Looking away from the floor, her brown eyes met bright blue and a happy sob broke through her. Her Lorelai was _here_! One small hand reached out and met with Lorelai's soft cheek. "You're really here?" she asked timidly.

Lorelai's heart broke at the desperation in the girl's voice. Her hand covered Lailah's and she brought it to her red lips. "I'm really here Lai." Without another moment's hesitation, Lailah leapt up, grabbing Lorelai around the neck and pulling her into a vice-like hug. Lorelai held on just as tight and both began to cry. For the first time, Lorelai was able to properly comfort the teen, "Shh baby, its okay. I'm here." She clumsily came to kneel on the bed in front of Lailah, softly swaying back and forth with the girl tightly nestled in her arms.

A feminine hand came away from Lailah's small back and she wanted to pull it back around her but it quickly came to stroke the hair out of her face, wiping at her tears and tipping her head back to look at the other person. It was Lorelai. Lailah started to calm, not letting her hold waver. A few tears slowly fell down her face as she said a silent 'thank you' to whoever was up there blessing her with such wonderful things as Lorelai.

After another five minutes of silent hugging and swaying, the females separated, still holding hands. "You okay?" asked Lorelai.

A grin slip Lailah's face in two and she answered with a heartfelt "Yes." It had been a long time since she could honestly say that she was okay. Usually there was something going on, some big evil to overcome before there was a single day of okay and then it was diminished by Joe's drunken abuse, some crazy girl's at school paying her out, or life just getting her down.

Her hair was tucked behind her ear by soft, caring hands and nimble thumbs wiped at her drying tears. A smile came across Lorelai's face too and her eyes sparkled with happy tears. "there's that smile." She grinned.

Suddenly a frown came over Lailah and she looked around the room, confused. "How'd you get in?" she asked.

Lorelai let out a laugh at Lailah's frown-y face, and she gave a small wink as she spoke, "That Joe guy let me in. I'm pretty sure he won't remember I'm here though. We was pretty drunk." Lailah smiled at the fact that Joe had let her in but her mood deflated when she thought of Joe's drunken state last night. Lorelai seemed to notice and she frowned in concern, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Lailah said quickly and honestly, "last night wasn't too bad actually." She defended. Her life was crap, completely _shit_ but she didn't want Lorelai to have to witness it.

Lorelai seemed to notice the way 'last night' started the sentence and chose to ask about it, "Last night?" she quietly muttered.

The teen nodded, ashamed of her life. "Yeah. It was all good last night. He had some new chick over." Lailah blinked and quickly changed the subject. "how long u been here?" it had been on her mind since she woke up.

Lorelai laughed again and the sound surrounded Lailah and filled her with a sense of warmth, "Hun, I've been sitting there all night, got in at like two in the mornin' and came straight here. Thought I'd let you sleep for a bit longer. You looked so wiped." As always Lorelai left the 'g' off of the end of words and it was a familiar comfort for Lailah.

"I tried to stay awake for your call but yesterday was pretty hectic." Lailah was thrown back to yesterday. _"Yeah well you can go to hell, Steph!" _the memory was unwelcome in her happy state and she shook her head to rid it. Lorelai's inquisitive look had her continuing. "Steph and I got in a fight. We're not friends anymore."

Lorelai frowned at the new news. They'd seemed so close before. "What happened?"

"She started hanging with Grace." Lailah informed sadly while the anger sat low in her heart, having been buried by the ache of betrayal. Lorelai still looked confused. "Grace is the biggest bi-" She was cut off by the look Lorelai cast her, clearly conveying that cussing was not okay. "She's the school plastic, the fakes one of them all and she makes my life hell." A frown plastered over Lailah's features and it began to sadden as she spoke the words she'd hoped to never hear again, especially from herself. "She's the girl I got in the fight with. She said you were 'taking pity on me'." Lailah looked up through her lashes at Lorelai and was met with the frowning older woman.

Lorelai put her hand on Lailah's cheek and soothed, "I do _not_ pity you Lai. You know that." She implored the younger female to hear her words and believe them.

"Yeah." She agreed. "I know." She was still upset, more by the betrayal than anything else.

Lorelai leapt from the bed and grinned in a playful way. "okay, enough of this depressing talk." She stood at the foot of Lailah's bed, almost bouncing. "I need coffee." She said with a grin. After thinking (Lailah mused that it looked almost painful), Lorelai spoke again, "And food." Her hand went to her stomach and she laughed lightly, "I think my body is gonna start eating it's body soon if i don't get something to eat." As if on cue, Lorelai's belly let out a loud grumble and both girls cracked up in full heartfelt laughter.

Lailah rose from the bed and went over to her closet, reaching for her favourite jeans, holes and all. Lorelai quickly interjected, "What day is it?!" it was a rhetorical question and Lailah quickly moved over to where her brand new school uniform was hanging. Pulling down the plaid skirt, white button up shirt, and knit jumper she next reached into her drawer for two pairs of black stockings, a second pair of underwear and a bra. "That's better." Lorelai smiled.

Lailah told Lorelai to hold tight while she went to change for a second. Lorelai sat and looked around the small room. No, scratch that- the _tiny_ room. There were no posters on the walls, no photos, and nothing new. All of Lailah's clothes were holey but clean. It was clear that she didn't _want_ the lifestyle she had. It was clear that she tried her hardest to present herself properly. Her clothes were all freshly laundered and in piles on the floor, probably because she'd run out of space for them. All of Lailah's workbooks were neatly presented, and it showed that she put effort in.

Lailah returned from the bathroom in a black bra, and hot pink boy leg underwear. "Sorry." She cheekily smiled. "Grabbed the wrong stockings. These ones have holes all through them. Took me until i got the second pair on to notice."

Lorelai laughed, having made the same mistake many times. She told Lailah that and then gasped in shock as the teen turned to go to her drawers. Lorelai leapt from the bed and held Lailah in place as she examined a fading bruise and the girl's ribs that she hadn't noticed before. Lailah struggled out of her grasp and pulled the white shirt over her head hastily. Lorelai pulled it back up, fighting off Lailah's protesting hands. "Who did this?" she spoke through gritted teeth and tears threatened to fill her eyes. Lailah looked down and pulled away from Lorelai. "Lailah..." Lorelai almost begged, "... who _did_ this?"

Lailah looked down, ashamed and shrugged, "Joe." She said quietly. Lorelai looked so angry, and yet so broken at the same time. "It's okay. It doesn't hurt." She comforted. Lorelai still looked completely enraged.

"No, Lailah. It is NOT okay." She held the shorter females shoulders in place and searched her eyes. "You need to tell someone."

Lailah pulled away with sad, panicked eyes. She actually began to beg. "No, you can't. I can't. They'd make me move. I know it isn't ideal here but it's better than some other places I've been."

The blue eyed woman looked broken and stated with resolve, "Well I'm going to fix this." Lorelai looked determinedly into Lailah's eyes and the girl nodded her approval. "Now finished getting dressed, I'm _famished_." She joked dramatically and Lailah smiled.

Lailah finished getting dressed and Lorelai admired how grown up she looked in her uniform, how different she looked in new, clean clothes –sans holes-. "Ready." Lailah smiled.

They left the house and were greeted outside with a bright blue, two-door jeep. The teen laughed at the vehicle and turned to Lorelai. "Really?" she asked and the woman shrugged.

"What? It's just like mine at home but _**BLUE**_!" she grinned gleefully. Lailah shook her head with another giggle. This woman was just a huge –Lorelai shaped- ball of whimsy. They both climbed into the car, Lailah quickly buckled her belt and relaxed into the seat. Lorelai turned to her and grinned menacingly, "You may want to hold on. I still haven't gotten the hold of this whole **right-side-driving-on-the-left-side-of-the-road** thing yet." Lailah's eyes went wide but she grinned back. _This should be fun_. They took off and, sure enough, Lorelai began driving on the wrong side of the road. Thank god the road was empty.

**Okay, so that was it... i will have another update later today. This was all i could do in the time i had at school but at least it's something.**


	9. AN 2

Hey everyone, I really want to write and upload a new chapter for you but I just can't. It's 1:30am here and I'm only just getting home from being out all day and night. I promise... Like swear on my first born... I will write and upload a chapter tomorrow when I wake up. Xx

Here is your quote as I have not given you one for a while:

"I'm sorry, I don't speak monkey... BANANA!" -?

Just give me the movie because I can't even remember the characters name... My friend and I just quoted it all the time during class. ;)


	10. Chapter 10

**Okay, so I hope you all know how much I'm giving up right now so that I can write this chapter for you. Actually, I may just tell you... 1. It's Sunday, the day of rest –enough said. 2. I got in a like 2 am this morning from being out all day. 3. I just found an amazing fic that I want to read. 4. I gave up bacon and eggs for breakfast because it would take up too much time. **

**You had better all love this chapter and review! ;) Na jokes but Review's are nice.**

The radio was blaring out some horrible techno-beat music that quite frankly had Lorelai wanting to rip her own ears off. Lailah had called it 'Skrillex'. When the song came to an ended another began almost immediately. Now there was some girl whining about 'throwing a wish in a well' or something along those lines. Enough was enough. Lorelai reached over and switched the radio off. "Hey!" Lailah yelled, shocked. "I was listening to that." The teen reached back towards the middle consol, intending on switching it back on but her hand was quickly slapped away from the device. "What?" Lailah huffed.

Lorelai gave her a look of disapproval at her tone. It was odd, to have only really _met_ minutes ago, and to be so comfortable around each other that you openly defy requests. "We don't even know where we're going yet Lai. Help me find somewhere for breakfast."

How was Lailah supposed to know where to go for breakfast? She'd never been out, she just usually ate whatever cereal was in the house or grabbed a piece of fruit on the way to the bus stop. Although there was that one time when she'd almost gone for breakfast with Steph and her family. Of course it hadn't gone ahead because Amy had come up ill. What was that place called again? The pancake hut? No. The pancake shack? Nope, not that one.

Finally it came to her. "The pancake palace." She declared.

Lorelai nodded her approval, deciding that pancakes sounded good (probably not as good as Luke's though.). "Where's that?" she asked and looked around. There were lots of stores, mostly clothes shops that she'd never heard of before.

Lailah looked at her surrounding and then spun to look out the back window. "Back there."

Lorelai gave her an annoyed look and chucked a u-turn. Illegally. "You need to get better at this whole directing thing Lai. Ii don't know my way around here."

A laugh came out of the teen's mouth and then she looked thoughtful. "How'd you find my place then?"

Lorelai turned to Lailah, a mock-exhausted look on her face and a frown steadily taking up residence on her features. "With _a lot_ of trouble." She turned back to the front and her features went back to normal. She turned to Lailah when the younger girl let out a laugh at Lorelai's dramatic nature. "What?" Lorelai said, looking between the road spread out in front of her and the girl in the passenger seat who only dissolved further into her laughter. A playful jab was administered to Lailah's ribs and she jerked to the side, laughing harder. Lorelai shook her head with a big grin and a small laugh of her own. "You're just lucky I love you, kid."

She felt a weight on her arm and realised that Lailah had lent over and was now hugging her arm, looking up at her with adoring brown eyes that could suck you in and drown you. "I love you too." Lailah muttered, hugging Lorelai's arm tighter. After another minute she let go and sat up, looking out the windshield. "Okay, it's just up ahead. You see where that big red lighthouse is?" Lorelai nodded and Lialah pointed right next to it. "That's it there. The smaller building next to it."

The next five minutes were driven in silence. The duo pulled into the parking lot and got out, walking through the big, red, double doors and were immediately hit with the strong scent of warm maple syrup and bacon. Both looked at each other, closed their eyes and took long whiffs of the delicious scent. When they both opened their eyes there was a waitress standing before them, dressed completely in black. "Can I help you?" she greeted, just as Heidi had at the uniform shop.

"Yeah, uh, table for two." Lorelai smiled warmly and even the waitress was taken with her.

The woman spun and looked around the crowded room, her eyes finally finding their target. She pulled two menus off of a pile and grabbed two sets of cutlery. "Right this way." She said and led them to a table which was raised, bar stools on one side and a tall booth on the other. Both women took their place, Lailah allowing Lorelai to have the booth side as she'd been on a plane just hours ago. "Take your time and just come up and order when you're ready."

The waitress left and Lorelai grinned across the table at Lailah who was completely absorbed with the list of foods spread before her. "I am _starved_!" Lorelai said dramatically and Lailah looked up, nodding enthusiastically. "What'cha feel like?" she asked.

Lailah shrugged and looked back down at the menu. Suddenly a frown creased her brow and she looked up at Lorelai confusedly. "What's a _potato rosti_?"

"I'm pretty sure that's like a fancy hash-brown."

"Oh." Lailah replied, feeling stupid. It wasn't her fault that she'd never been out to eat like this; she just didn't have the money. Actually, come to think of it, she should probably bring that up with Lorelai. "You do know I don't have any money, right?"

A laugh escaped the older woman's lips. "Yes, I do know that." A mischievous smile lit Lorelai's face and she spoke, "I guess you'll have to drink water while I chow down." Lailah's eyebrow shot up, not really knowing if Lorelai was joking or being serious. Another chuckle left her lips and Lorelai smiled warmly, reaching and grabbing Lailah's hand. "Honey, I paid all your school stuff. A couple dollars for food isn't going to break the bank. Don't worry."

A smile was on Lailah's face already and she got her own mischievous grin. "Well then, in that case I want a 'German feast' with a side of hash-brown's, extra bacon and an 'enormous iced-coffee." Lorelai nodded and stood, giggling at Lailah's shocked expression. "I was joking." The teen called but Lorelai made no move to reply or even show that she had heard her.

When Lorelai returned, she sat and started digging in her bag, pulling out her iPhone four. "I was joking." Lailah said again, finally being heard.

Lorelai smiled and nodded along. "I know." She looked back down at her phone and pressed a few buttons, bringing the device to her ear. "Hope you're hungry though." Her attention snapped back to the phone and she smiled a full-watt smile. "Hey babe... no, I know I haven't been answering my phone... everythin's fine... no, I'm actually... what? No... okay, would you just listen..." Lorelai pulled the phone away from her ear for a moment and made a crazy sign at Lailah, circling her pointer-finger around her ear and pointing at the phone. Finally the white piece o technology came back to her head. "I'm in Australia babe... because, Lailah needed me... yes, I know I'm perfect... yes, I know I'm stunning... yes, I know you absolutely adore and idolise me... no, Rory, I will not stop saying stuff you're not saying... why? Because I'm trying to make Lailah think I'm the most amazing person in the world." Lorelai winked at Lailah. "anyhow, back to the point... I don't know how long I'm going to be down here so can you just drop into the hollow every so often and check in on Luke... yeah, alright... okay, love you too... I'll talk to you soon babe." It seemed as if the call was going to end but straight away Lorelai began another topic, "oh, and Rory, did you know they don't have regular coffee here?... I know it was ridiculous, I go up and ask for a cup of coffee and all of a sudden there are all these questions like 'How many sugars?' 'Full shot of half shot?' 'Cappuccino or latte?' it was so frustrating... no, in the end some nice woman behind me go that I just wanted regular coffee so now I'm waiting on something called a 'long black.'... yeah, I'll let you go... see you soon babe." The call ended and Lorelai put her phone away.

The two girls were joking around ten minutes later when their food arrived. Lorelai had ordered _a lot_! The table was laden with all types of breakfast foods imaginable. There was bacon, three different types of pancakes, hash-browns, four types of eggs, French toast; almost the whole menu was on their table and Lailah's stomach growled in agreement. "Eat up." Lorelai smiled and dug into her food.

At eight-thirty Lailah looked guiltily up at Lorelai. The older woman stopped mid-chew and raised her left eyebrow. "What?"

"I'm kinda meant to be at school right now." Lorelai sighed, giving Lailah a disappointed look. "I didn't notice. It's not my fault." Lorelai's eyebrow rose again. "Really."

Lorelai nodded and finished her mouthful. "Well if you're already late then finish you're food and I'll take you." Lailah nodded and started eating her pancakes again. "I guess I'll have to talk to some teachers or something, wont I?"

Lailah's smile slipped into place and she spoke around her mouthful of pancake and iced coffee. "Yep." Lorelai groaned in annoyance and went back to eating her bacon.

An hour and a half later, Lorelai and Lailah left the restaurant and climbed in to car. They quickly made their way to Lailah's school, both completely stuffed full and groaning in protest at every bump. "Maybe all the sides weren't a good idea." Lorelai mused which earned her a groan of agreement from Lailah.

When the school came into view, Lailah started straightening out her uniform and flattening her hair. It was recess time. The yard was filled with teens whose eyes followed the big blue vehicle down the street and looked shocked as Lailah climbed out, quickly followed by a tall, gorgeous brunette in tight, blue jeans, a pink top, a black blazer, and a pair of killer black Jimmy-Choo pumps. Their shock increased as the brunette put her arm over Lailah's shoulder and started for the front office.

There was a swell of pride that went through Lorelai as Lailah met her peers' eyes and stood her ground, walking proudly into the school with her head held high, even after they'd watched her lose it. Her arm went around the girls shoulder and she gave it a comforting squeeze.

Lailah was right when she'd described her school as 'looming' in one of their late night chats. The school was made up of two three-story buildings and a scattering of smaller portable ones. The smaller buildings weren't so bad but the three story high ones were a little disconcerting. Also, Lorelai had forgotten how intimidating teenagers could be when you were one of them. Lailah seemed to shrink back into herself a bit as the crowds watched them.

They entered the office and were met with a bored looking woman. Her patchy blonde-brown hair was neatly styled and sat atop her head. "Um, hello?" Lorelai spoke through the half-shut glass window. The woman merely held up a finger and continued reading her magazine. Lorelai huffed, "Do you know how rude you're being?"

The desk assistant looked up and gave a fake smile, putting on a sweet voice for show, clearly because her boss was in the office behind her. "How may I help you Miss?" she spoke through gritted teeth and a glare that was probably meant to intimidate Lorelai.

"I need to sign Lailah James in, please." She also spoke with a glare in her eyes and her teeth pushed together in a 'smile'.

The woman whose name was 'Meg' (according to the plaque sitting beside her desk) turned to the computer and started typing in things which Lorelai could not understand. Finally she looked up from the screen and said, "Why is she late?"

Lorelai ran through all of the acceptable excuses she'd used over the years with Rory. "She had an appointment."

Meg went back to typing, "She'll need a doctor's certificate as proof in that case." _Damn!_ Why did Australia have to be so different to America!

"Okay, she'll have that tomorrow." Lorelai smiled and looked at Lailah when the teen pulled on her jacket sleeve. Lailah gave her a look that said, 'What are you doing?' Lorelai just shrugged and turned back to the desk.

The woman was still tapping away at the keyboard and when she was done looked up at Lailah, not Lorelai for once. "You have an appointment with Libby at ten thirty." Lailah nodded and they left the office Meg rudely dismissed them, turning back to her magazine. Lorelai had half a mind to find the woman's boss and get her fired.

As Recess was still out, Lailah decided to show Lorelai around. First she showed her where all of her classes take place, then she showed her the canteen, the oval, the music room, the Japanese room, Libby's office (which ended in Lorelai agreeing to come with Lailah to the appointment), and finally they arrived at the Library. Luckily Ms. Davidson was there, stocking the shelves.

The woman turned and smiled as she saw Lailah walk through the doors. "Ah, Lailah, I got that new book in for you." it seemed as if Lorelai had gone un-noticed as the oblivious woman speed walked right past her, almost knocking her down. "Now, Miss James, I do hope that this one will go un-harmed." Lailah nodded with a roll of her eyes. "Okay." The librarian began checking the book out and still spoke rapidly about the piece of literature in her hand, "What's with the sudden interest in deafness?"

Lailah shrugged and smiled at the book clutched in Ms. Davidson's hand. "I just saw it and figured it'd be a good read. No harm done if it's crap." Both women scowled at Lailah's language and she quickly apologized.

The book was checked out and the teacher handed it over. "I hope it's good." Lailah nodded her agreement and took her bag off, sliding it onto the desk in front of the computer and started stowing the book away. Ms. Davidson finally seemed to notice Lorelai and smiled warmly. "Hello, how may I help you?" she asked sweetly.

Lorelai looked taken aback at the sudden attention, "Oh, I'm just here with Lai."

"Oh, and you would be?" asked the other woman.

Lorelai smiled at her and pulled at the bottom of her blazer, "I'm Lorelai Gilmore, and you must be Ms. Davidson. Lailah talks about you a lot."

Ms. Davidson's smile widened and she came around the desk, now standing in front of Lorelai, she held her hand out. "Yeah." They shook hands and the librarian took in the other woman. "I cannot believe you're really here. I mean, I heard tell of you saying you would come but I just thought it was rumours." Lorelai looked slightly confused. "It's just that, who comes half way across the world to visit a teenager."

The blue eyed beauty grinned and put her arm around Lailah, "I think we both know that she's a lot more than 'just a teenager'."

Both women shared a small chuckle of in agreement of Lorelai's words. "Hey." Spoke a more confident voice, "I'm right here."

Lorelai squeezed Lailah tighter, "I know."

Ms. Davidson looked sadly at the piles of books piled in the returns box and the more hefty pile in the 're-shelving' cart. "Well ladies, I must get back to work."

Both Lorelai and Lailah nodded and turned to leave. "Thanks for the book." Lailah called as they left the portable building.

Next Lorelai and Lailah made their way to the west building which held all of the lockers. They were much different from the lockers at Rory's school. These ones slid upwards and could only fit a small amount whereas Rory's locker had opened out and they could fit all of her books, an extra jacket and her lunch, had she ever taken it. As she opened her locker, Lailah's books and other possessions came tumbling out.

Her pencil case had been opened which sent pens and pencils tumbling all around, scattering and rolling. A few of the writing implements rolled across the hallway. Lorelai quickly scattered to pick them up while Lailah knelt down to collect her books. At that moment there was a loud noise which signalled the arrival of a new person, or three persons. _The plastics!_ Lailah thought bitterly.

A set of T-bar clad feet stopped in front of Lailah. "Well, well, well, what do we have here?" I teased, pushing a textbook away from Lailah's grasping had with its foot. "Is the little orphan-looser finally taking after her idol... do you want to be _just like Cinderella_?" Grace taunted.

"Yeah, Cinderella." Chorused Nikole and Isabella.

Lailah stood up, coming face-to-face with her arch nemesis. "You'll never be like Cinderella though, will you?" the sneer on Grace's face made Lailah's blood boil. She was sure that she'd lash out soon if it didn't stop. "No." Spoke Grace, getting in Lailah's face. "You'll never be like her because nobody, and I mean _nobody_ wants you!" she growled.

Just as Lailah pulled her fisted hand back, ready to knock the other girl out, there was a throat clearing next to the pair. Lailah pulled back and turned to find Lorelai looking at them, her right hand full of the previously scattered pencils and her left hand firmly planted on her hip. "Lai." She said calmly but pointedly. Lailah knelt back down and started retrieving her books, noting how Grace and the other plastics stepped out of her way. "Hi." She heard Lorelai say. "I'm Lorelai Gilmore, and you are?"

Grace's voice came out slightly shaky. "I'm Grace Hawthorn." She said and quickly followed with the names of her friends, "this is Nikole Wright and Isabella Harris."

Lorelai's heels licked a step closer to the trio and they took a step back. "I'm glad to meet you, just so I can tell you how I'll be informin' the principal of your harassing tendencies" Grace was gaping at Lorelai like a fish out of water when Lailah finally finished collecting her books and stood up. "Get your books Lai."

Lailah packed her bag with the books she'd need for the day and turned back to look at the shocked plastics. As they left, Lailah got close to Grace's ear and spoke. "That's the _American_ woman who took _pity _on me. Don't you like her_ Choo's_?" she taunted back. When she glanced over her shoulder a minute later she found the tree girls staring at Lorelai's retreating figure, mostly focused on her shoes. They really were nice shoes.

After purchasing drinks from the canteen, the duo went and sat in the counselling waiting area. There was laughter and mocking about the plastics reaction's to Lorelai. "_Oh my gosh, did you like see her shoes?_" Lailah mocked.

Lorelai let out the most heartfelt laugh at Lai's new demeanour. "I don't get what the big deal is about my shoes." Lailah gave her a look that said '_really?'_ Lorelai gave in, "Okay, so they're Jimmy-Choo's but I got them on sale!" Lailah laughed at the fact that Lorelai was s o modest as to act as if a pile of money was really not that big of a pile of money. "No, really. Luke wouldn't let me get them if they weren't."

At that moment a young, rounded woman entered and Lorelai looked up at her from where she was sitting, looking out of place on the red chair, completely slumped down, dressed immaculately. "Hi Lib."

Libby smiled warmly at Lailah and Lorelai sat up straighter. "Hello there, I'm Libby and you are?"

Lorelai held her hand out, recognizing this as the woman she spoke to on the phone. "Hi, I'm Lorelai Gilmore; I believe we spoke on the phone." Lorelai laughed at Libby's wide eyes

"Wow, uh, hi there. It's great to finally meet you." Libby said as she shook Lorelai's hand. "Well" she continued, "Lailah and I have an appointment so would you like to wait out here for a little while? I can bring you a magazine." She turned to look at Lailah when the teen cleared her throat a bit and gave Libby a raised-eyebrow look. "Oh, are you coming in with us?"

Lorelai looked from Lailah to Libby and back again. "Yeah, if that's okay?"

Libby nodded and led them into the small office, walls laden with posters of musicals and plays. "Libby likes drama." Lailah commented when she saw Lorelai looking around the office. "She's actually the drama teacher here." The blue eyed woman gave a nod of understanding and kept looking around the room, making her way over to a small round desk with three chairs and took a seat.

Next to her on the wall was a collage of photographs including Libby, a man and a little girl with brown eyes and short brown hair. "Is this your daughter?" Lorelai asked, pointing to the little girl, as Libby came to sit across from her.

"Yes." Replied Libby, adoration shining in her eyes as she stared at the photograph. "That's Peyton."

Lorelai smiled, recognising that look as one she often wore. "She's gorgeous."

A smile glued itself to Libby's features and she pushed her long fringe out of her eyes to sit lightly atop her pixie-cut hair. "Do you have any children?" it was a harmless question but, knowing the woman's job and training it unnerved Lorelai.

"Yes actually, I have a daughter, Rory." Lorelai pulled her phone out and started to flick through pictures. Libby's shock was apparent when Lorelai turned the phone and showed a picture of a twenty year old woman, not a small child. Lorelai laughed at this, "What, you were expectin' me to leave a small child to traipse across the globe?"

Libby shook her head and gave a quirked smile, "No, I just didn't think she would be so grown up, that's all."

Lorelai turned her phone away and locked it, sliding it into her blazer pocket. "I had her when I was sixteen and I wouldn't have it any other way."

Libby nodded and opened her notebook to a new page, jotting down the date and Lailah's full name at the top of the page. "So, Lailah, we need to talk about what happened the other day." Lailah nodded dejectedly and Libby continued, "What happened?"

Lailah shrugged and answered sadly. "I got mad."

"Yes, I know you were mad but _why_ were you mad?" She pried and Lorelai sat back in her seat, watching the scene play out before her. Lailah was retreating and she didn't like it a bit. Her girl was supposed to be strong, to sit up straight and answer confidently. This was not the Lailah she had eaten breakfast with and she could only hope that it'd get better.

The teen slumped back into her chair and crossed her arms, not in the defiant way but higher, the more scared, protective way that covered her heart. "Grace was picking on me." Libby gave a look that told her to expand. "She said that nobody would ever want me." She looked at Lorelai who looked sadly back. "She said that Lorelai pitied me." She was looking at Libby for her continuation.

The pixie cut woman scribbled this on the notepaper and then looked up, glancing at Lorelai and noting the way she stared adoringly at the side of Lailah's head, only a small amount of sadness in her gaze. "I don't think that's true Lai."

"I know it's not but it still hurt." Lailah leant forward, resting her elbows on her knees and staring at the ground. "It still made me think." There was an unfinished tone in the girl's voice that had Libby keeping quiet. "Why should anybody want me? My mum didn't want me. My dad didn't want me, and even though they took me in, I know my grandparents didn't want me." Her hand went to her face and she wiped at a tear. "And god forbid if Joe should hold any feelings for me apart from hatred and the occasionally drunken lust."

Lorelai wanted to gasp I horror but she just couldn't. There was a huge lump in her throat at the sight of a broken Lailah sitting in front of her. Libby met Lorelai's eyes and conveyed that she shouldn't react. This woman knew and she hadn't done anything? That made Lorelai angrier than anything.

"Fuck!" Lailah ground out as she stood and strode over to a bookshelf, bracing herself against in and angrily swiping at her face. "I HATE HIM!" she turned to the wall and hit it, not as hard as she wished she could, but she hit it none-the-less. "I HATE THEM ALL!" she spun and slammed her back against the wall, sliding down to sit against it.

Lorelai and Libby met eyes. _'Go to her'_ Libby silently conveyed. Lorelai shot out of her chair and made her way over to the girl who sat crumpled on the floor. "Lai?" Lailah looked up at Lorelai and feebly held her arms opened. Lorelai copied Lailah's move from a moment before, turning, resting her back against the wall, and sliding down. As soon as she was on the floor she pulled the little girl's head into her lap, holding her shoulders with one arm and stroking her hair soothingly with the other hand **(Like she does with the wallowing Rory)**. "Shh baby." She rubbed at Lai's arm and she little girl's tears leaked through Lorelai's jeans. "I'm here."

Lailah rolled over, burying her face in Lorelai's stomach. "Maybe you should just take her home after you're finished here." Libby said quietly.

Lorelai nodded and held her hand out for Libby to shake. Lailah cried out at the loss of contact, "Mummy..." Lorelai quickly replaced her hand and gave Libby a thankful look with her eyes. The young woman left the room, leaving the door only slightly ajar, as not to lock them in.

"Lai, I'm here alright. I won't let you go." Her hands still ran soothingly over Lailah's hair and back.

Lailah looked up at Lorelai, not letting go. "I don't wanna go home. I wanna go with you." a few tears leaked from her eyes and Lorelai wiped them away.

Pulling Lailah up to be sitting, Lorelai pulled herself up with the desk and then reached for Lailah's smaller hands. As soon as they were both standing, Lorelai pulled Lailah to her again. Lai's head went to Lorelai's chest and her arms held tight for fear of losing the newly most important person in her world. "I'm not taking you back there, okay." Lorelai smoothed over the teens hair and kissed her temple comfortingly. "We'll go, write a note, get your stuff and you're coming back to the hotel with me."

That is what they did. They went back to Lailah's house while Joe was at 'work' which was highly doubtful as they never had any money, they collected all of Lailah's things that she would need for the next fortnight, they wrote a note telling Joe that she wouldn't be there and that she would call him when she was read (which she probably wouldn't), and then they left for Lorelai's hotel.

The hotel was amazing, and Lorelai's room even more so. Actually, room was an understatement, Lorelai had gotten a suite. There were two bedrooms, a full bathroom (shower, bath, separate toilet, two mirrors, and two basins), a lounge room, a kitchen, and a study which had Lorelai's laptop waiting. "Wow." Lailah said in awe.

"Yeah" Lorelai said as she set her handbag, keys and phone on the dining table. "I kinda thought I'd be springing you from that hell hole so I got a place with two rooms." Lailah grinned at the thoughtfulness of the woman standing before her. "So?" Lorelai said as she picked up one of Lailah's duffel bags, "You wanna dump this all in your room and go watch TV in mine?" Lailah quickly nodded and grabbed her other duffel.

The pair hung all of Lailah's school clothes and other 'creaseable' items. They then folded and packed all of Lailah's other clothes in the drawers in the spacious room. "You wanna get in some pyjamas?" Lorelai asked and Lailah quickly agreed, stripping and changing into her pink and black polka-dot pyjama bottoms and black fairytale hoodie with a foil print snow white on the front.

She made her way to Lorelai's room and knocked on the door. "Lorelai?" she asked.

There was shuffling inside the room, a groan and then a loud, "Come in." Lailah entered the room to find Lorelai in a pair of Peter Alexander pyjama bottoms and a long sleeved grey shirt which was clearly too big, _maybe it's Luke's_. "What you wanna watch?" Lorelai asked.

Lailah shrugged and climbed onto the bed and under the covers at Lorelai's insistent waving. "Let's just flick through the channels and see what we can find." Lailah suggested. They both lay back on her comfortable pillows and began to flick through the channels. Suddenly there was a bright flash of yellow on the screen and SpongeBob Squarepants was beginning. They both looked at each other and grinned giddily, starting to sing along.

The end of the episode found them both fast asleep, Lailah curled up in Lorelai's protective arms. Lailah let out a small whimper as s nightmare began to overtake her and Lorelai squeezed her tighter to her body. The nightmare went away and only wonderful dreams of a new life came to Lailah's subconscious mind.

**That was that... four hours of work and 5,066 words! You had better all appreciate it. To tell the truth it almost didn't happen as my laptop shut down momentarily when I was writing... that meant that I almost lost it all. By that point I had put in 3 hours and 4,000 words worth of effort and I was about to cry. So I hope you liked it, I sure had fun writing it. **

**This is how I described the whole autosave situation to my dad: "Autosave is a babe! I would totally have autosave's babies right now if it asked me to, that's how much I love it!" Yes, our babies will be beautiful.**

**Okay, because this chapter is so long I probably won't update either until tomorrow or Tuesday (it's Sunday). **


	11. Chapter 11

**Who loves me? That's right... you guys do! Seven-thousand words in one day. I guess I'm your new favourite writer... probably. So why is nobody reviewing? I know you are all reading it because I can see my hits so why aren't you reviewing. Please do. Even if it's just to say that you like it... all that I ask is a simple 'good work, more please.' Every chapter.**

**Or you could all go above and beyond like Iscah McKrae and write me amazing reviews telling me what you did and didn't like from the chapter. I work hard on these and I ask so little of you. please tell me what's going through you're heads so that I can make the story better for you. Please help me and R&R.**

Lorelai and Lailah awoke to the sound of Manic Monday by the bangles loudly playing. "Make it stop." Lailah unhappily groaned, rolling onto her stomach and pulling the pillow over her head.

Lorelai groaned in agreement and rolled onto her stomach, mirroring Lailah, "No, You turn it off." She replied immaturely.

Lailah removed one of her hands from under her head, reached up and pulled the pillow from Lorelai's head and threw it across the room. "It's your phone!" she argued.

Finally Lorelai rolled over and threw her hand out, grasping around for her phone. She momentarily hit it but it was knocked to the ground. As the ringing continued, Lorelai lunged for the device, falling off of the bed in a pile of twisted limbs. She answered her phone as Lailah started laughing hysterically, still buried under a pile of pillows and blankets. "Shut up!" Lorelai yelled at Lailah. The person on the phone must have started talking because she spoke again soon after. "No, not you, Lailah, she's laughing at me." Lorelai threw her pillow at Lailah and laughed as a small 'ouch' came from Lailah. Lorelai stood up and then sat back down on the bed, next to Lailah who was still lying on her stomach. "No mother... because I'm not going to be there... mom, I am not doing this to spite you... I'm not going to be off gallivanting around with Luke... I just told you I can't make it!... because I'm not in the state... I cannot come back just because of Friday night dinner... I'm not in America, mother! Are you happy now?... not everything is an attack on you... I'm here to help out a friend... I'm in Australia... okay, I'm going now mom... I'll call you later... I'm going, bye." Lorelai ended the call and looked at the time flashing on her phone; 6:37 it read. "Lai?" she asked the immobile teen next to her.

"No." Lailah answered and pulled the covers higher over her head.

"Yes." Lorelai countered, administering a swift jab to Lailah's side. The teen moved to the side, trying to shuffle away from the prodding. Lorelai did it again and, sure enough Lailah shuffled further away. Lorelai could see the edge of the bed and jabbed Lailah just once more.

"Stop." The brown eyed girl whined and shuffled away. Then there was a squeal of shock and a loud thump. Lailah fell of the bed. Lorelai was laughing so hard that she was getting stomach cramps. Finally when Lailah didn't rise after five minutes, Lorelai moved to lay across the bed on her stomach, looking down at the girl on the floor.

Lailah lay on her back, looking up at Lorelai who grinned cheekily at her, "You okay down there?"

A laugh formed on Lorelai's lips as Lailah ground out, "No." And sat up. As soon as the bubbling laughter escaped her lips, Lorelai was wrenched onto the floor and had a pillow wack her in the torso. "You are so _mean_."

Lorelai sat up and grinned while plastering a fake frown to her brow, "Says the girl who just beat me with a pillow. Lailah started laughing and stood, pulling Lailah up when she had her footing.

"Says she." Lailah laughed. Both the girls ran their fingers through knotted hair, trying to get rid of the knots and kinks. Finally Lailah gave up, tying her hair up in a messy bun. Lorelai rapidly followed suit and the duo left the bedroom, walking into the kitchen and Lailah went to sit at the island while Lorelai moved around the kitchen. Lailah was waiting for the woman to ask what she would like for dinner but no. Lorelai went straight for the fridge, pulling out a bag of coffee and walking over to the simple black coffee maker.

It was a contraption Lailah had seen on TV many times but not actually seen in real life. Steph's mum had some crazy coffee maker that took little capsules and then spat out a mug of fancy coffee. This thing, however, simply took the grounds in the top part and slowly filled a glass carafe full of the heavenly black liquid. Lorelai put a large amount of the coffee in the top and also added a tiny amount of cinnamon sugar. "What the hell?" asked Lailah.

Lorelai spun around with a large grin. "Trust me." With that she closed the lid, and switched the machine on. It gurgled and spluttered and then began to leak out the hot liquid, "Ahh." Sighed Lorelai as the smell began to rise. Her eyes closed and her nostril's flared.

Lailah choked on a laugh and smiled jokingly, "Um... should I leave you two alone?" she giggled.

The blue eyed woman spun and put a fake smouldering look on her face, "_leave us!_" she groaned in a deep voice. Both dissolved into giggles and Lorelai poured herself and Lailah a mug of coffee each. Lailah looked hesitantly at the mug. "Trust me." Lailah still continued to look at the mug, moving it from side to side, testing it and smelling it. "Okay, I can drink it if you won't." Lorelai said, stepping forward and going to take the mug from Lailah's grasp.

"No, no. I'll drink it." She said and pulled the mug away from Lorelai's prying hands. Finally she blew on the mug and put it to her lips, taking a small sip. As the liquid ran down her throat, Lailah moaned, actually moaned. Lorelai laughed and continued to eagerly drink her coffee.

The teenager smiled and drank greedily from the mug. "Good, isn't it?" asked Lorelai. Lailah was far too busy drinking to answer with words so she held one of her thumbs up, widened her eyes and nodded. "It's Luke's recipe." Lorelai smiled with a glint in her eye.

Lailah's eyebrows rose as she finished her coffee and pulled the mug away from her lips. "I thought you couldn't get him to give you the secret ingredient?!" it was both a statement and a question. She'd listened for hours to how Lorelai had tried to convince Luke to give her the name of his secret ingredient, even going so far as to hint at sexual situations. At that point Lailah had interjected and told Lorelai that she didn't want to know anymore.

"I couldn't." Lorelai began, "until I came up with the best plan _ever._"

Lailah laughed at the enthusiastically childish behaviour being displayed by a woman more than twice her age. "And what plan would that be?" she asked, teasingly.

"Oh, just a little thing called 'plan stranger'." Lailah raised her eyebrow, conveying that Lorelai should continue. "Basically I had a hunch that there was cinnamon in the coffee so I sent a tourist into the diner with the promise of a complimentary bottle of champagne when she returned to the Dragonfly. She went in and told Luke that she wanted pancakes but she was allergic to cinnamon. I told her to say that because I know Luke, he doesn't want to risk me knowing what he does to make the coffee _so damn good_." Lorelai let out a fake moan at the last three words. "I know he adds the ingredient into the coffee bag in the morning so I got her to ask for coffee too." Lorelai paused and took a sip from her mug, "he sorta paused and then told her she couldn't have any of the coffee because it had cinnamon sugar in it." A huge grin came across Lorelai's lips, "I burst into the diner later, I yelled, "I KNEW IT!" and started jumping around. I think Luke thought I was crazy but when I calmed down I finally got to telling him that I knew about the cinnamon and he understood." Lorelai put her empty mug in the sink and walked over to sit near Lailah. "We've been equals ever since." She sighed jokingly, "It. Is. _Glorious_!"

"You take way too much pleasure in this." Lailah joked yet a part of it was also deadly serious.

"I know." Lorelai said, eyes wide and voice totally sarcastic. She threw her hand out, lightly tapping Lailah's arm. "You as starved as I am?" she asked eagerly.

Lailah laughed, put a hand to her stomach as she stood and took her mug to place it alongside Lorelai's in the sink. "I don't think anybody is _as_ starving or as _frequently_ starving as you but I could eat." Lorelai jumped up immediately, far too eager to go out for food. Both Lorelai and Lailah went to their rooms to get changed.

"So" Lorelai called from her room as she pulled on her jeans. "You just wanna go down to the hotel's restaurant?" She asked.

"Yeah, why not?" Lailah asked, walking into Lorelai's room fully dressed. Lorelai, however was not. She had her back to Lailah, digging through her closet for a shirt. "Oh, sorry." Lailah apologized and turned around.

Lorelai spun to see Lailah with her back to her. "What?" Lorelai asked. Lailah kept standing there. "It's not like I'm naked Lai." Lorelai took in Lailah's pink jumper, black jeans and ratty converses. "Lai, turn around." Lailah spun around and Lorelai beckoned her forward. Lailah walked towards her and sat on the bed. Lorelai continued digging through her clothes. She emerged with a low-cut blue shirt and another black blazer, this one slightly less casual than the one from earlier that day. She quickly slipped the two garments over her black bra and reached back in again. She came out this time with a tight black t-shirt and a cute white cardigan. She handed the items to Lailah, "It's a real fancy place down there." she explained apologetically. Lailah pulled her jumper off and then quickly followed it with her tank top.

Lailah was wearing the same bra as earlier and Lorelai wondered how many she owned. The t-shirt and cardigan slid on and she noted that the chest was stretched out. Lorelai was looking at Lailah's legs and feet where her slightly holey jeans and converses sat. She knew that Lorelai wasn't doing it on purpose. She knew she looked ratty. Lorelai seemed to be judging the size of her legs. "Eight." Lailah said and sat to pull her shoes off.

As Lorelai pulled out a drawer and started going through her jeans. Finally she emerged with a pair of fashionably faded blue Levi's in her hand. She jokingly threw them at Lailah's face and they both laughed as the legs of the pants wrapped around the teen's face. "Wow, in the crouch of a woman's jeans... that's a place I've never been before." Lailah joked and winked at the woman who cracked up.

"So dirty!" Lorelai stressed and went to her cupboard, pulling a pair of black flats out of the bottom.

"Kinds the point." Lailah grinned. Lorelai turned around, noting how different Lailah looked in nice clothes. The tight skinny jeans clung to her legs and the ankles had been rolled up as they were clearly too long, they looked good rolled though. The shiny flats were placed on Lailah's feet and she moved over to the mirror, pulling the brush off of Lorelai's dresser and starting to brush her hair. Lorelai coughed and Lailah turned, waving the brush around as she spoke, "What, so I can borrow your clothes but not your brush?" Lorelai just laughed and went back to fluffing her own freshly brushed hair.

When Lailah was done brushing her hair she disappeared into her room for a moment, returning with a coat of mascara and a delicate line of eyeliner applied to her eyes. "Ready?" she asked Lorelai.

The woman turned around and smiled warmly at the beautiful teen standing before her. "Ready." And with that they both grabbed their phones and Lorelai grabbed her wallet and they left the hotel room.

**Was it as good for you as it was for me ;) no, really I had fun writing this chapter, even if it was only done in the ad-breaks of Once Upon a Time... please, please, please tell me what you think.**

**Quote time:**

"**Love is weakness (insert character name here)" -? Just looking for a show name and really this one is easy peasy! **


	12. Chapter 12

**Hey, so here is a really important chapter and I just KNOW you're going to hate me for ending it where I did but seriously, there is only so much time in a lesson to write. Enjoy everyone. Xx please read and review.**

The two females entered the upscale restaurant and scanned the dining room

for a free table. The wasn't one. both girls deflated from their playful

high as the notion of food slipped further from their grasps. When the

employee came to seat them, Lorelai started looking more confident. The

twenty-something year old man strode over confidently and took his place

behind the reservation book. Lorelai winked at Lailah, put her hand on her

back and both women stepped forward.

"Hi there."

"Hello" Began the man, his head snapping up as Lorelai and Lailah came to stand in front of him. At the sight of the two attractive women he

straightened up and smiled charmingly, "do you have a reservation?"

Lorelai put on a disappointed look and pulled Lailah to her side, sliding

her arm over the tens shoulders, "No, we don't." Lorelai leant forward

almost conspiratorially, purposely showing a lot of cleavage, "You

wouldn't happen to have a cancelation or a free table, would you?" Lorelai

put her hand on the reservation book and pushed herself back to her

regular standing position. "My daughter and I would be just so grateful."

The boy looked as if he were about to faint. Lailah almost laughed but

quickly stifled it into a sweet grin as 'David' turned around and nodded

eagerly at them. He grabbed a set of menus and lead them to a four person table near the

back as Lorelai and Lailah sat down facing each other, David leant over to

place the menus in front of them.

Taking her chance, Lorelai reached up,

grasping his name tag in between her fingers and giving him a grin. "Thank

you David. You really have no idea how much I appreciate this." She gave

him a wink and Lailah almost felt sorry for the pale looking boy.

As soon as he left the table, Lailah let out her laughter, bending down

and placing her head on the table, atop her arms. "You are so bad!" Lailah

laughed, putting her chin on her arms and looking at the grinning Lorelai.

"I know." Lorelai smiled, and she was rewarded with more giggles from Lai.

"Well it got us a table, didn't it?" she asked, though it was rhetorical.

Lailah shrugged her shoulders up to her ears, "I guess."

Lorelai gave a cheeky grin and shrugged too, lowering her shoulders and

dramatically flicking her menu opened in front of her face. "Let's eat."

She declared and they both scanned the menu. Lorelai was focussing on the

pasta section where Lailah was staring intently at the only thing she

really recognized on the menu. "What you want?" Lorelai asked, looking

over her the top of the card.

Lailah looked at the list again, "Hmm" she began, scanning the selection

once more, "I think I just want a chicken parmy." Lorelai cocked and

eyebrow at the teenager. "It's a chicken schnitzel with this tomato sauce

stuff on top of a slice of ham and it's all covered in melted cheese."

Lorelai looked oddly at the teen and Lailah quickly defended her meal of

choice. "you're missing out. It's good!" she folded her menu and put her

hands on top of it, taking a mouthful of her water. "What are you going to

get?"

The blue eyed woman's lips quirked and she let a small smile crack them

opened. "I think I want some lasagne." Lailah tilted her head. "It's

Luke's favourite. His sister tells this sweet story.." Lorelai paused,

folding her own menu up and smiling a full smile that lit up her eyes.

"When Luke was a kid, he only knew how to make lasagne, so one day he

started experimenting with the different ways of making it better, you

know, looking for that one perfect recipe and all." Lorelai laughed in

anticipation of the next part. "So by the end of the week they had enough

left over pasta to feed the town. Luke, being the moody man that he is,

didn't want to feed them though so Liz suggested a food fight." Lailah's

eyebrows shot up, imagining Luke in a food fight, covered from head to toe

in red pasta sauce. "I know." Lorelai began, "so their whole family got in

this crazy food fight and then went down to the lake and swam to clean

off." Lorelai took a sip of water and laughed, "he has so many photos of

that day and there's this one where Luke has a lasagne sheet on top of his

head. He's poutin' and his mom is behind him, completely cracking up."

A smile came onto Lailah's lips as she imagined the photo. Her heart also

fell though, because she had never had that. She didn't let it show, the

sadness that is. "it sounds like it would have been so much fun."

"It would have been." Lorelai agreed, flagging over a waiter and ordering

their food. "Whadda you want to drink, Lai?" she asked, turning from the

female holding the order pad.

Lailah's head snapped up and she sat straighter, "Oh, just a glass of

coke, please."

Lorelai told the employee to get the biggest glass of coke and a gin

martini with two olives. When she left, Lorelai turned back to Lailah who

was on her phone. "What'cha doin'?" She asked.

"I'm on facebook, checking us in." She gave a smile, telling of her

ulterior motive, "I wanna see what Grace does when she sees that that I'm

here."

The older of the two let out a laugh and gave a wink. After Lailah put her

phone back down on the table, Lorelai leant forward, seeming to have

become more serious. "Lai, where's Joe's wife?" she asked.

"Joe's wife?" I queried, confused.

Lorelai looked taken aback for a moment. "Yeah, his wife." Lailah still

looked at her confused. "I looked at the guidelines for fostering and you

have to be part of a stable, permanent relationship, be financially

stable, and have a clean police record."

She'd never really thought about

it like that. She'd never even considered that maybe Joe had cheated the

system. "Joe doesn't have a wife?"

Lailah shook her head, still confused but now thinking about all the

things in her life.

"Actually" she said after a moment, looking up from

where she'd been worrying her nails. "I think he might. There is this

woman who comes over every so often, but only when Diane, my social worker

comes to check on me."

"But he has all those women over still?"

Lorelai asked, looking confused

as well now. Lai nodded. "And you guys hardly have any money, either?" the

teen nodded once more, seeing where she was going with this. "Lailah" she

said, reaching across for her hand. "Joe's cheating the system. This isn't

good."

Lailah pulled her hand away, knowing where this conversation would lead.

"No." she snapped. "I know what you're getting at, and I wont say

anything." Lailah said in a harsh whisper. "I've heard about some of the

other places that take kids with no parents to be returned to. I wont go

there Lorelai."

Blue eyes met sad, frightened brown and a hand darted out, taking a

smaller, rougher one in it. "Lailah. It is so wrong what he is doing. It's

wrong that he's gotten away with it." She squeezed Lailah's hand for the

next part, "And it's wrong what he is doing to you."

Tears fell down the teens reddened cheeks and she pulled her hand away,

quickly using it to scrub at her face. "It isn't as bad as you think."

Lorelai cocked an eyebrow while her eyes stayed sad and appraising. "it

really isn't!" Lorelai still looked at her the same. "Why does everybody

look at me like that? I'm not some poor helpless child! I know what's

happening and I don't care. It stops hurting after a while and when it

does, I still have a warm bed to climb into, and a hot shower to stand

under."

"But that's not just it Lailah." Lorelai almost pleaded, her eyes looking

through Lailah's. "There is a line. He has crossed it."

Lailah could see what Lorelai was thinking. She thought that Joe had done

that. "Lorelai, no! He hasn't, I mean… he' just gets handsy. I meant what

I said, it isn't that bad. I wouldn't let it get that bad." Lorelai seemed

to relax a little bit at her comment.

The waiter came with their drinks, placing them on the table. Lorelai

looked at her glass and then ordered another. " I may be needing it. We

need to talk all of this out." Lorelai gave a wink and drank half of her

strong drink in one mouthful and gave a wink. Lailah took a mouthful of

coke through her straw. "So, how long have you been with Joe?"

I swallowed my mouthful, "Twelve years." Lorelai's eyes widened. "Yeah,

since I was four. After my grandparents dies I was placed almost

immediately. They try to do that with the smaller kids, you know, give

them a better chance at settling in for such a long-term placement."

Lorelai nodded along to my story, hanging on my word.

"You have adoption here though,

right?" she asked, taking another drink,

this one smaller.

"Yeah" I answered, shrugging.

Lorelai looked at me, thoughts running through her head. "Well why didn't

you get put on a list for adoption when you were little?" she asked,

almost hesitantly. Clearly she could see her discomfort.

The teenager gave an indecisive shrug and swirled her straw through the icy coke. "I don't know." The straw made more bubbles rise to the surface and as they popped,

little sprays of the drink hit the side of Lai's cup, running down and

back into the liquid. "Maybe they figured no one would adopt me." Lailah

didn't bother looking upset, the sadness had gone away some time ago. She was just disappointed.

Lorelai still looked thoughtful, her eyes taking on a far away look. "But

can kids in the system get adopted? You know, without getting put on any

list?" she inquired, only looking at me at the last minute.

"I guess." Lailah said, her eyes falling to the tablecloth. "It sorta gets

easier the older the kid gets." Lorelai's yes widened slightly, telling

her to expand this statement. Lailah sat up straighter, starting to tell

her everything she'd researched over the years, years of 'Googling' and

endless questioning rolled into a couple of measly sentences. "well when

the kid is little, they aren't considered mature enough to make their own

decisions. They get told what to do and when to do it all the time. But

when they're older, they get to make their own decision, like who they get

to live with. They can say if they don't like the foster parent they're

with, or if a couple comes around, looking to adopt, they can say yes or

no." Lailah took a long drink of her coke, the liquid slightly burning the

back of her throat with the bubbles. " Doesn't happen too often though."

Lorelai looked sceptical, but also as if she was thinking. "Would you?"

she asked out of the blue.

"Would I what?" Lai asked, a giggle in her speech.

Lorelai's eyebrows rose and she leaned forward, looking straight into

Lailah's. " Would you say yes if somebody wanted to adopt you?"

A grin wanted to come across the teen's face but she stifled it, not

wanting to seem as if she had been thinking about what was almost

certainly being proposed to her by the woman sat at the table. "What?"

she asked, leaning back in her seat. Lorelai began to reply but Lailah cut

her off, not having noticed the woman's mouth starting to move. "Are you

asking what I think you're asking?" her eyebrows furrowed and Lorelai

started to look concerned.

"Yes." She spoke. She leant forward more, taking Lailah's hand in both of

hers. "Would you say yes if I wanted to adopt you?" she was using her big

blue eyes to stare straight through Lailah's and into her souls, or so it

seemed.

The smaller hand was slowly drawn from the two larger ones. "I, I don't

know." The teen replied. "I need some time." Lorelai nodded in

understanding.

Soon their food was brought and they both ate in silence. After eating,

they went back up to the hotel room, dressing and going their separate

ways without so much as a 'goodnight' on Lailah's part. Lorelai, however

had been trying to strike up conversation since they hit the elevator. It was breaking her heart, to see someone she loved so dearly to look so

unsure. It was the most horrible feeling.

Lailah lay in bed, a million thoughts going through her head as it rest on

the big fluffy pillows. Could she do it? Could she put herself out there?

Could she become as vulnerable and small as she one had? It was all so

overwhelming. Finally, finally she'd found someone who wanted her, someone who cared enough to cross countries and seas, someone who was willing to

take her and all of her issues on and embrace them with wide, welcoming,

warm arms.

What could she do about the nagging

feeling in her heart that screamed

yes, which totally contradicted her head, the one thing she had always

been able to rely on. It was a game of tennis. Her head yelled no, while

hear heart was tugging her into the other room. The teen sat up, resting

against the wall. She pulled out her phone and went through all of the

little notes she had written herself. What did they say to do? Did she

work with her head or her heart?

It was two in the morning when Lailah stood from her bed. She tip toed

down the hallway of the large hotel suite, and peeked in the door to

Lorelai's room. She looked so peaceful, laying on her side, facing away

from Lailah. Could she go to a world and a life with this carefree, caring

woman?

"Lorelai?" she whispered and the figure stirred. She leant up on her

forearms, facing the door, eyes wide and alert.

Would Lailah run from her? Lorelai just didn't know anymore. "Lai?" she

asked.

The teen pushed the door open wider, stepping into the doorway and

fiddling with her hands. "Yes." She said, almost hesitantly. "Yes." She

repeated.

"Yes what sweetie?" Lorelai asked, brow creased with a confused frown.

Lailah turned, her shoulders slightly hunched in decision. Her figure was

retreating hesitantly when the words came out. "Yes." She said again, this

time more upbeat and joyful. "I'd say yes if you asked." She kept walking

and Lorelai sat up further. "I'd say yes if you wanted to adopt me."

By the time Lorelai had sat fully up, flinging the covers off of her legs

and going to stand, she heard Lailah's door shut. The woman sat back down,

reeling from the new news. Needing to talk to somebody, she picked up her

mobile phone and dialled a number. "Hello?" she spoke into the receiver.

"Luke? I have big news."

**See, you do hate me... Right? ;) well you'll probably have to wait till tonight or tomorrow for the next chapter. Hope you liked it.**


	13. AN 3

Okayn so I just couldn't NOT write and answer to Kately Carter. I wish I could pm you but... You're a gues on so dun dun duhhhh! I can't.

Lorelai says that she has big* news for Luke and it's that Lailah is okay with being adopted. Also, everything is going to be covered in the next couple of chapters with regards to the decision about the adoption, however whether it does or does not occur - that will take a while to get to.

Everyone, I am just chilling, eating a cheese toatie (only because it's the best reason to eat a pile of melted cheese), drinking some coke and watching the episode with April's birthday party in it. I will start writing in a minute but for now I'm relaxing and fast-forwarding through the Rory parts of this ep.

So, just keep your pants on, relax for a bit like me, and I will update soon. Ps. Be prepared for a bit of angst between Lorelai and Lailah.

Okay so here is my departing line... In true gilmore fashion.

Super cool party people, bid you super cool adeiu. Xx banana flavored lemonade. (Bec)


	14. Chapter 14

**Here you guys are. Another chapter in the little old Lailah saga. This isn't as dark and angsty as I had thought it would be but it is certainly up there in the angst column. I can't seem to finish a chapter angsty in this story though. Okay, so commence reading and R&R please. I am really loving the reviews. You can also all thank 'prettyrandom13 for this chapter as she asked for an update and I didn't want to let down somebody who gave such a sweet review.**

The next day Lailah awoke to the shrill ringing of her bedside alarm. It was Friday, and she didn't know whether to be happy or sad about it. She knew that it would be good to escape, to get away from all things Lorelai and just think for a while, but at the same time she didn't want to be away from all those things. Everything was crowding her, suffocating her and she needed to think. Quietly she made her way down the hall, taking her neatly folded towel with her and climbing in the shower. The spray was warm and rough, biting at her back and waking her up more. Remembering how oily her hair had been earlier, Lailah reached for the shampoo on the glass shelf. _Hmm apples_?

It was only after washing her hair, washing her face, brushing her teeth, and scrubbing at her body that she realised what she had done. She had just _covered_ herself in Lorelai. _Shit_! Resigning to the fact that she was stuck, the teen stepped out of the shower, wrapping the towel around her slim frame and grabbing one of the extras from the rack to dry her hair.

Lailah dressed quickly in her tight fitting school pants, ruined converses, grey hoodie and pulled her long sleeved polo shirt over it, covering everything apart from the hood which hung out. She dumped all of her books for the day in her bag and dumped the old ones on her bed, along with her dirty clothes. Her phone went down her shirt and slipped into her hoodie pocket, her headphones already in her ears. Lailah made her way out of her room and quietly walked into the main area, finding Lorelai sitting at the island, sipping on a steaming cup of coffee. She tried to tiptoe behind the tired looking woman and out the door but she was caught as her heavy backpack hit the doorframe. "Hey." Lorelai said, spinning around on her bar stool.

Lailah winced, pulling the still silent headphones from her ears. "Hi." She kept walking towards the door. Lorelai started following her. "Yes?" she asked her.

"Don't you want a lift to school?" she asked confusedly.

The teenager shook her head almost apologetically, shrugging her bag up higher on her back and pulling at the straps. "I think I just wanna walk today."

Clearly Lorelai could read her better than Lailah had originally estimated as she grabbed her skinny arm, holding the girl in place as she spoke, "Don't over think this Lai. I want it." She leant forward and down a little so she was perfectly in line with the teen, holding her gaze. "You have no idea how much I want this." She said almost pleadingly. Lailah nodded again, finding words hard.

She turned and left a saddened Lorelai standing in the doorway, looking after her. Didn't she understand that things weren't that simple? Her headphones were plugged in again as she reached the elevator. She switched on her music and _Good Time_ by Carly Rae Jepsen and Owl City started playing. Music had always had a calming effect on her; she could tune the world out with music. She could turn it up as loud as she could and stop everything from moving, stop everything from changing. The elevator stopped six times and by the time she reached the ground floor _Dance with me tonight_ was playing.

The hotel was right near the school, only a twenty minute walk which was nothing. As she hit the opposite side of the fancy glass hotel doors, the world came back. Lailah pulled her hoodie up and skipped the upbeat song, looking for something a little darker, a little more appropriate. _Everybody's fool_ by Evanescence started blasting in her ears. It was calming and she started bopping her head along to the heavy beat. Every word that came through had her head becoming clearer.

As her head became clearer, she started to think. She was thinking about how much Lorelai meant to her. She was thinking about how much everything would change with one simple word from her. She thought about how much she had stuffed up by telling Lorelai yes. She also thought about how hungry she was.

Walking into the closest deli, Lailah was greeted by a small Asian man who started waving his arms at her manically. She pulled her headphones out and finally heard that he wanted her to take her hood off. She apologized and pulled the hood down. She should have known, every store asked it of you. She went to the fridge, grabbing an iced coffee and digging the un-used four dollars fifty from the other day. She paid, grasped a straw and left the store. As she took the first sip of coffee a gush of air blew her loose hair in her face and she got a whiff of Lorelai's conditioner.

The iced coffee she had been drinking combined with Lorelai's cinnamon toothpaste and created Luke's coffee. That and the smell of Lorelai's conditioner had her drowning in the woman. Literally drowning. She pulled her hoodie back on, tucking her hair into a hair tie first and then ate a stick of old mint gum from the front pocket of her bag. After she could only taste mint she finally started drinking her drink again. Her stomach was filling, she was warm and all she needed was her music. She plugged her headphones in and the same playlist as before continued, this time blasting out _Breakaway_ by Kelly Clarkson.

It was all becoming too relative. She pulled her headphones out, unplugging them and tossing them in her bag, next she used her spray deodorant to douse her hair and tossed her iced coffee in the bin. Hopefully school could distract her.

First up Lailah had to go to the gym with all of the other senior students to discuss upcoming course selection. It was easy to distract herself with thoughts of what subjects she would have to do to get her desired degree in literature. That was, until the principal asked for a show of students who would be attending the next year. Lailah couldn't raise her hand. She may not be back the next year. She saw Steph, giving her an oddly concerned look from her spot by Grace, her '_new bestest friend_' according to the other plastics.

Things just weren't working out for her. Thank god there was a compulsory fitness test for all grade eleven girls that day. Lailah went to her locker and got her PE uniform, quickly changing and walking out to the oval. It was a relief when the cool air hit her bare legs and chilled her warm, overwhelmed face. She was called to race against Tayla Jackson. Apart from the fact that they were next to each other on the roll, they were also the two fastest runners in the school. The gun went off and Lailah leapt into action, pumping her legs hard and fast, her converses slipping precariously on her feet and eventually coming off in the mud. She hardly noticed as she kept on going, pumping her legs far past the finish line and all the way to the school fence. She fell hard against the metal and wire. Angry, frustrated tears fell down her face. She took it out on the ground, kicking her sock-clad toe into the grass repeatedly and eventually collapsing against the cool wire, holding onto the top with her hands and leaning her head back, trying to get more air to her protesting lungs. _There is no rest for the wicked_. She thought. More like there was no rest for the conflicted.

After fifteen minutes of everyone staring from across the oval, she saw a figure jogging towards her. It was Jake. Jake and Lailah had been good friends since grade eight and recently they'd become closer, almost like a couple. His gelled, curly hair was flopping with sweat as he ran from baseball practice. When he got over to her she looked up hesitantly. "You okay?" He asked sweetly.

A simple shake of her head found him sitting down next to her, pulling her under his arm and squeezing her to him. Lailah's arms curled around his torso and she rebelled in the feel of tight, taught muscle under her hands. "I don't know what to do." She stated through her slowly falling tears.

"What about?" his strong hand came and moved her air out of the hair tie and it fell around her back. He bent down to kiss her temple but stopped short, taking a sniff at her hair, "Holy cow, your hair smells just like apples." He laughed and she was pulled into the infectious chuckle.

She sat up, leaning back against the wire, still next to him. "You know about the whole orphan thing, right?" he nodded and she continued. "Well I met this great woman a while back." She looked down at her hands thoughtfully. "She's so sweet and just everything I could wish for."

Jake gave and odd look, leaning back a bit. "Wait, are you like, gay?" he asked. Lailah gave a swift slap to his chest and he clutched at the possibly red area. "Just asking. Sounds like you're talking 'bout a girlfriend or some crap."

"No. She wants to adopt me." She smiled a bit, her smile quickly changing to a frown as the next part came to her lips, "and I said yes, I'm just not sure. I mean, everything would change. _Everything!_" she stressed. Jake continued to look at her, hanging on every word. She looked deep into his eyes, seeming to be searching for an answer. "I'm not sure if I'm ready for everything to change. Not again." She said, revealing one of her deepest fears. "The last time things changed was when my grandparents died in that crash. The last time it all changed I was left with nobody."

Jake's blue eyes were soft and caring and she just wanted to dive into them and not emerge until everything was fixed. "Lai, you can't always run just because you're scared." He said, grabbing Lailah's chin and lifting it so that she wasn't looking up at him but rather equal to him. "Don't you see how good this could be?" he smiled a full smile.

She nodded, standing up and cracking her back a little bit. "Yeah." She cocked her head to the side and stretched her arms behind her back. "It could be great." A smile came across her lips and she cracked her neck. "No more running." She said with a decisive nod.

The boy still seated at her feet gave a cheeky grin, cocking his head to the side and looking at her short-clad ass. "No, you mean no more running from feelings and shit." He looked up at her eyes, giving a small wink. "Keep running for real. Don't want you loosing that great ass." He laughed. Lailah gave a kick to his baseball cleat and laughed a small giggle. "Kidding." She declared, holding his hands up defensively.

Lailah reached down, taking his hands in hers and pulling him up with a lot of effort and a huge help from him. Jake stood at six feet and towered over her. "You won't ever change, will you?" she joked, poking his chest.

"Maybe." He smiled.

Lailah gave a small smile in return and cocked her head to the side. "When will that be?" she joked.

Jake looked surprisingly serious. He leant down, putting his hands on her sides and pulling her a bit closer. "After you kiss me." He sweetly replied, pulling her in and covering her lips with his. As she was pulled closer Lailah circled her arms around his neck and stood on his feet as not to have him stumble and crush her unprotected toes. Her curling toes. Her eagerly hoisting toes.

Lailah was getting her first real kiss. Yes, there had been kisses at parties and small dare kisses at school but never anything like this. Never anything this meaningful. Apart from thinking how much his mouth tasted like roll-up and how soft his lips were, the only thing Lailah could think was that she couldn't wait to tell Lorelai.

When they finally separated, Lailah looked up into Jake's shining blue eyes and cocked her head. "So, you going to change now?" she joked.

"Only for you." She grinned back.

Lailah said goodbye with a small, sweet peck and jogged leisurely over to get her shoes. Once she had them in her hand, she walked back to the change rooms and changed into her pristine uniform, takin off her socks and putting them in the bin and slipping her shoes on. Boy, her blisters were going to be bad.

After fighting with Steph the whole way through tourism and almost falling asleep every other minute during math, Lailah was let out to lunch. She so desperately wanted to go and find Jake but didn't want to seem needy. As the bell rang, Lailah's phone beeped, alerting her of a message. _**"Lunch in the front office for you. Noticed you didn't grab any " **_Lorelai was always so attentive. Just how a mum is meant to act.

"_**Thanks, I'll go get it now."**_ She typed and sent first, quickly following with another. _**"Pick me up this afternoon? Xx"**_

Lorelai answered quickly that she would see her at three. Ten minutes after school let out. Lailah went to the office to get her lunch. It was delicious, a sandwich with ham, salad and mayonnaise. In the bag there was also a snickers bar and a bottle of water. Lailah wondered how Lorelai knew her so well already. Everybody that packed lunch for her would always pack juice or soft drink when she usually opted for water.

The last two lessons dragged on and finally, at two fifty-five (after a long argument with Mr. P about whether it was appropriate to drink water in the computer room) Lailah left the school gates. The bright blue jeep wasn't hard for her to spot and she crossed the road, momentarily fearing for her life as a P-plater in a big white Ute almost ran her over. When she climbed in, Lorelai handed her a small glasses box. Lailah, assuming they were Lorelai's reading glasses reached to drop them in the woman's handbag.

Lorelai reached out, pulling lightly on Lailah's shoulder. "You don't want them?" She asked the stunned teenager.

"They're for me?" she smiled.

Lorelai's lips quirked and she reached to the box in Lailah's hand. She opened the box to reveal a pair of black Ray-Bans. "You think I'd wear these?" she asked.

Lailah's hand flew to her mouth and she reached out for the gorgeous glasses. "Holy cow, they're epic!" she exclaimed, slipping the squared glasses on her face. Lorelai let out a laugh and pulled out of the parking space, glancing every so often at Lailah who was checking herself out in the mirror. "They aren't going to disappear, you know?" she joked and Lailah pushed the glasses down her nose and gave a jokingly disapproving look to Lorelai which caused both females to crack up.

Once they got home Lailah went and changed into a pair of tracksuit pants and a t-shirt. She climbed onto the couch, a blanket over hers and Lorelai's legs, the TV showing a repeat of Charmed, and a packet of sour cream and onion chips between their thighs. After a few minutes of eating and watching the disaster unfold on the TV, Lailah spoke suddenly. "So" she began. Lorelai's head turned her way but Lailah kept looking at the screen and eating chips, appearing indifferent. "I got kissed today." Lorelai let out a squeal and jumped, causing the chips to fly across the room, scattering everywhere. After they both paused, looking for a moment at the mess on the floor, Lailah held up her hands and disregarded Lorelai disapprovingly. "Really?" she asked the guilty looking woman. Lorelai shrugged and got up to get the broom.

"You are telling me all about that kiss when I get back!" Lorelai hollered as she left the room. Lailah just sighed and ate one of the chips on the blanket.

**How you all like it? Think I did any good? I think I did. **

**Quote time as I haven't given one in a while... I want to know who sings the song "Dance with me tonight" she Lailah is listening to.**

**Look out for another update tomorrow some time. Don't know how much time I will get during class but I'll get one done at home anyway. **


	15. Chapter 15

**Alright guys so here is a small chapter for you because I've wanted to write all day but things have been full on, you know, school... dealing with the real life plastics (Isabella-the real on-stole my ruler *NOT HAPPY JAN!*)... and doing housework. So if you've noticed, my picture has changed. That is my school uniform, and what I've based Lailah's on so that's what she was wearing in the last chapter. Anyhow, this is just dealing with a little first for the girls. Enjoy.**

Lailah had now been living with Lorelai for two weeks. It had become comfortable and they'd developed a routine. In the mornings Lailah would wake up and get herself to school while Lorelai slept until nine and then rose to a big day of research into the adoption process. After school Lorelai would pick Lailah up and they would go back to the suite. Lailah would cook dinner every night except Thursdays when they would do food shopping and get take away. The suite had quickly become like home for the pair and Lailah was heartbroken the day that Lorelai told her they would have to get an apartment.

The suite was costing too much for Lorelai to comfortably keep staying in Australia. She had found a small two bedroom house and they were set to move in the next week. School had been going well for Lailah, as well as her new relationship with Jake, she couldn't be happier. She had become a happy, smiley teenager who had, on top of everything else, stopped taking crap from the plastics.

That's why, on their second Wednesday together, Lorelai was shocked to have a very moody Lailah slam the door closed on her way to school. The woman couldn't decide whether or not it was a shock to receive a text from the girl asking to be picked up after school because she had cancelled her plans with Jake. Of course, Lorelai went and picked her up, sitting quietly next to the emotional teenager. "Is something wrong?" she asked, almost hesitantly.

"No!" Lailah snapped. "Why is everyone asking me that? I'm just not having a good day." She snapped her head around to look at Lorelai. "Is that alright with everybody? Huh?" Lorelai nodded and turned back to the road, rolling her eyes when Lailah had gone back to looking out of the window.

They entered the room and Lailah threw her bag on the ground in the hallway, almost causing Lorelai to trip over it. "Lailah!" the shocked woman hollered. When all she saw was Lailah's retreating back heading to her room and pulling her phone out of her pocket, Lorelai made her way over to the island, setting her handbag down and raking her hands through her hair.

All the stress was starting to get to her and she _just needed to relax_! After pouring a fresh mug of coffee, Lorelai made her way to the bathroom and ran a deep, warm bath full of bubbles. The tap was unusually loud and hissed as the water gushed out energetically so Lorelai put her phone on the basin, music blasting out and calming her further. The water was so warm and inviting that she almost fell asleep.

An hour after she had gotten in, Lorelai stretched her legs and rose from the bath, leaving her music on as she got dressed, drying her hair as she headed to the kitchen/lounge area to find her brush that the two had been sharing. When she stepped into the doorway she spotted Lai. The teen was going through her handbag. Lorelai didn't know what to think. All of the pockets were opened, her wallet, glasses case and just about everything else was out of the black leather accessory. She coughed and lowered the towel as Lailah spun around, her eyes wide in shock at being caught. "Looking for something?" Lorelai asked as she started forward, beginning to replace everything in her bag.

Lailah looked around the room quickly, avoiding Lorelai's gaze. "Um, no?" she almost asked.

"No?" Lorelai prodded, putting her hands on her hips and zipping up the now full handbag. "So why were you going through my bag?" Lailah sank down on the closest bar stool and lowered her head, shaking it and rubbing at her forehead nervously. "Lai?" Lorelai prodded.

Lailah continued to look down but spoke. "I needed something." She said almost hesitantly.

"Needed what?" asked the older of the duo.

Lailah rolled her head around and looked up at Lorelai. "I just went to the toilet and I need _something_!" she stressed.

Lorelai's eyes widened in recognition as it dawned on her. She was living with a teenage girl again, she needed to worry about her monthly needs, and not just her own now. "Oh." Lorelai waved for Lailah to follow her and lead her through to her bedroom, pulling out the bedside drawer and pointing. In the drawer was both a package of pads and tampons. Lailah pulled out a pad and left quickly. "Stupid, stupid, stupid!" Lorelai said as she hit herself in the forehead with the palm of her hand.

Lailah emerged soon after she had disappeared, being greeted with Lorelai in tracksuit pants, a t-shirt, a light jacket and sneakers, waiting at the island. "Going running?" Lailah joked.

Lorelai shook her head, stood and reached for her purse. "Nope, we're going shopping." Lailah's eyebrows rose and Lorelai waved in the direction of the teen's room. "Go get some shoes on and hurry up." Lailah ran off and came back wearing her black jeans and ugg boots. The two left and climbed into the car as soon as they entered the parking lot. Lorelai tore off to the nearest supermarket and pulled in.

When they entered the doors, Lorelai pulled a basket off of the pile, dumping her wallet in the metal contraption. "So, pads, pads, pads." Lorelai chanted as she searched the isles.

Lailah's face went beet red and she grabbed Lorelai's arm, pulling her closer to her, "can you stop saying that so loud? People are staring."

Sure enough, when Lorelai looked around there were other customers looking at the two of them. Lorelai nodded and they continued on their hunt. When they went to the register, the conveyer belt was filled to the max with ice-cream, two packets of Lailah's preferred pads, a wheat bag, panadol, cookie dough, new deodorant, more coffee grinds, more cinnamon sugar, a two litre bottle of coke, and a big block of chocolate. As Lorelai paid, Lailah spotted a small clothing store across the hallway and made her way over, staring intently at a gorgeous red leather jacket. Lorelai came up behind her, two bags in her hands.

"That is a cool jacket." She commented and Lailah nodded. When the teens eyes unfocused for a minute she could see Lorelai looking her up-and-down in the glass. "You need new clothes." She said, her eyebrows rose. Lailah stepped back and gave a small shrug, taking one of the bags from Lorelai's hand. "You wanna go shopping tomorrow?"

Lailah looked at her as if she was crazy. "We always go shopping on Thursdays."

Lorelai nodded along, rolling her eyes at the teen so much like Rory in some ways. "Yes, I know we do but how about we go crazy, leave the food shopping for Saturday morning, and go clothes shopping?" she asked eagerly, clearly wanting to do this a lot more than Lailah.

"Um, sure?" said the teen hesitantly, shrugging her shoulders in indifference. "Whatever you want."

The older of them gave a small laugh and bumped her hip to the younger ones, "Shopping for you, kid. I wanna get you some new clothes." She gave a wink with her next comment. "We can deck you out with cute stuff to impress Jake."

Lailah gave in, agreeing to go shopping for new clothes. That was after Lorelai insisted that she could afford it and that she was sure, five times.

Later that night Lailah was on the couch, curled up around her new wheat bag, burrowed in her quilt, a tub of chocolate ice-cream sitting next to her. "Panadol?" Lorelai asked as she strode up, a glass of water in her hand and two little tablets in her opened palm. The teen nodded in appreciation and took both items, taking the pills and groaning as she placed the half empty glass on the coffee table. "That bad?" Lorelai asked sympathetically as she sat down on the couch next to the sad girl and moved the ice-cream next to the glass.

"Yes." Lailah ground out, nodding her head.

"Aww, babe." Lorelai said, putting a pillow on her lap and patting it. Lailah shuffled and fell with her head on the pillow. She stayed in her ball, wheat bag securely held in place. "It always this bad?" she asked, stroking over Lailah's fine brown hair.

Lailah nodded again, looking up at Lorelai with big brown eyes. "Yeah." She turned back to the TV where Chandler was chasing a duck around the apartment. "It sucks." She groaned again, burrowing her head into the pillow, closing her eyes and relaxing into Lorelai's loving strokes.

Lorelai let out a small chuckle and her unused hand came to rub Lailah's small shoulder. "It sure does. I've had mine for years and it's still a bitch to deal with." A thought came across Lorelai's mind and she thought on it for a minute while Lailah watched the TV intently, taking everything in with her pain-stricken eyes. "Hey, Lai?" Lailah looked up at her, telling her to go on with her eyes. "You ever considered the pill?"

Lailah's eyes went wide and she sat up. "No, never really had the option before." She shook her head a little, not rejecting the idea but not too keen on it either.

Blue eyes went wide under raised eyebrows. "Never an option?" she asked.

"Yeah, don't you need a parent or something to go with you?" she queried, having always thought that was how it worked.

Lorelai's head shook, "Not when you're sixteen." Lailah nodded a bit in understanding. "We could look into that if you'd like..." Lorelai offered a bit hesitantly.

Lailah's shoulders shrugged up to her ears and her head lulled to the side a little more. "Maybe a little later on." She said while looking into Lorelai's eyes and seeming like a scared child. Lorelai simply patted the pillow a couple of times and her little girl returned her head to its former place on top of her legs and under her caring hand.

"Yeah, later on." She confirmed, soothingly. "You grow up more first though, okay." She leant down and kissed Lailah's hair sweetly and gave a grin when she saw the girl's eyes close at the contact, calming further. Next she tapped Lailah's shoulder and she looked up at Lorelai, eyes questioning. Lorelai shook her finger at the teen and muttered, "No sex though." She tapped Lailah's nose and the teen rolled her eyes.

"Okay Lorelai." She tapped her knee almost condescendingly.

Lorelai's eye widened and she looked at the girl. "I'm being serious." She said more, well, seriously.

"Sure you are." Lailah muttered.

"Lailah." Lorelai said firmly.

"Okay, okay." The teen rolled her eyes and then closed them as Lorelai began stroking her hair again.

**Did you like it? Hope you did because I'm not sure whether I'll be able to update for the next few days. Tomorrow I have dinner with my mum and cousin to tell her that my uncle-her dad- is dying. Then on a brighter note; on Friday I'm going with my boyfriend- the real life Jake- and best friend to see Delta Goodrem perform the release of her new single and get a signed copy. So everybody enjoy and next update: Lorelai and Lailah go shopping. I have been looking forward to writing that scene for a while so it should be good... let's just say there will be a onesie involved. :D signing off, Banana Flavored Lemonade (bec). Xx**

**Quote: (in honour of this update)**

"**It's like a crime scene in my pants." -? **

"**chick: Take me to Adam's house.  
cab driver: Where's that?  
chick: Where Adam lives." -? They're both from the same movie. I felt like being kind.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Alrighty, here it is. This is only really part one but I wanted to update so this is as good as I could do. I've had like the day from hell and needed to do **_**something**_** with my time which resulted in this. You can all thank the really Libby for this chapter as I would not have gotten through today without her. So enjoy and R&R. Ps. You can see the shoes from this chapter on my fanfiction facebook. Look it up, it's on my profile. Also there is a picture of the jeep, Lailah's uniform from a couple chapters ago, and a picture of what Lailah looks like (or the closest thing to what is in my head.) .**

The next day, Lailah exited the school gates with Jake and walked over to the big blue car. "Okay, I'll see you tomorrow." She smiled.

Jake gave a small sweet grin and pulled her forwards, meeting her chest with his own. "I'll call you tonight." She proclaimed and gave a wink. "You can tell me about all of your new clothes and stuff."

Lailah lent back and threw her arms up dramatically, causing Lorelai to stifle a laugh in her sleeve. "Why of _course_!" she cried out and then dissolved into giggles.

The tall boy holding her waist pulled her in closer, bringing his forehead down to hers. "You are so cute when you laugh." He said and lifted her chin with his fingers so that their lips met in a sweet kiss. Lailah's arms wound around his neck and she pulled herself up eagerly. Lorelai let out a little cough from the driver's seat.

When that didn't work she let out a louder cough. The two still clung to each other and she honked the horn loudly, shocking them both out of their lusty-teenager stupor. "Lorelai!" Lailah groaned as she looked at Jake who was rubbing his bitten lip. "You okay?" she asked him.

"Yeah, I'm good." He replied. "Hey Lorelai." He waved and then bid the ladies adieu and went on his way, heading to his house down the road.

Lailah climbed in and threw her bag into the backseat. "You need to stop doing that!" she cried out and slipped her sunglasses on. "Jake's lips keep getting bitten and you're making me feel like crap."

Lorelai gave a grin and laughed loudly, putting on her indicator and pulling out of the space. "You needa stop sucking face right near the car. You know me."

"Whatever." Lailah retorted.

The duo entered the mall and Lorelai gasped. She had been in big shopping centres before but this place was _huge_ with a capital H. "Is this heaven?" she asked with an exaggerated awe in her voice.

Lailah looked at the woman beside her and raised her eyebrow as high as she could get it, shaking her head and pushing Lorelai slightly, "No, we're in Westfield." She laughed. "Is now a good time to tell you that this isn't even the biggest shopping centre in the state?" Lorelai turned to Lailah, mouth agape and eyes wide. "Okay, well let's just say we're _never_ going _there_!" Lorelai stuck her lip out and gave a dramatic pout. The teen laughed and shook her head, "That may work with Luke..." she grabbed Lorelai's shoulder and pulled her along, "but not with me."

They entered a large store like Wal-mart called Target. Lailah headed to the woman's clothing section and began perusing the racks. Lorelai spotted a gorgeous floral dress that would flow out from a tight bodice to just above Lailah's knees, should the teen wear it. "What about this?" she asked Lailah who was looking through the racks three isles away.

Lailah shook her head and gave a small gag of disapproval. "I was thinking more along these lines." She said as she lifted a pair of baggy grey tracksuit pants and a black crop-top/sports bra." She gave a smile and Lorelai's brow creased in disapproval at Lailah's choices, just as the teen had hers. "What?" she asked.

"That isn't even a top." She groaned but came over, carrying a basket anyhow and threw the items in. Lailah gave a grin, spun on her heels and started looking at the racks in the sports section again. "How about we look at some other clothes?" Lorelai proposed and pushed Lailah towards the tops.

Lailah looked in disgust at all of the floral print assaulting her eyes. "I'm not wearing _any_ of that crap." She said and walked over to a circular rack of tank tops, pulling two grey ones, a white one, a black one, three light blue ones, and a singular pink one from the throngs. "This is more me." She said whilst dumping them all in the basket dramatically. Lorelai looked down at the tops before following dutifully. Next Lailah added a few more masculine tanks to the pile; these were also grey, black, and white. Lorelai could see a pattern arising. When the basket was full of three styles of tank tops, a few long sleeved shirts, and six short sleeved tops, Lorelai interjected.

Lailah had been choosing really mundane and plain items, and it didn't go unnoticed by Lorelai that she was also buying bulk of the cheapest things. "Why don't you grab some nicer things?" she asked.

"Na, I'm good. Just gotta grab a couple pairs of pants now." She answered, leading Lorelai over to the Jeans.

Once they were over in that area Lailah began searching the wall of denim for her size. First she grasped a pair of dark, skinny legged jeans and held them to her legs, checking the look in the mirror across from her. They were rapidly thrown in and Lorelai reached for them, frowning at the feel against her fingers. They were _tough_! Like sandpaper tough. She let it go, thinking that Lailah was probably picking out the most durable pair. Then a light pair were thrown in, also skinny legged. Lorelai felt them. They were so overly delicate she was worried her fingers may go through the fabric at a touch. Finally she pulled them out of the basket and dumped them on a shelf next to her.

When Lailah went to put a third pair in, this time black skinny legs, she glared at Lorelai. "What the?" she asked and reached for the jeans Lorelai had discarded. Lorelai met her with her own hand, pulling it away from the pants. "Lai, we'll get your jeans somewhere nice." The teen's eyebrows furrowed. "Remember my jeans you wore the other day?" Lailah nodded and Lorelai continued. "How _nice_ were those to wear?" she asked.

Lailah shrugged her shoulders up to her ears. "They _were_ pretty sweet." It was a hesitant agreement.

"Yeah, they were pretty _sweet_ because that was a hundred dollar pair of pants." Lailah's mouth fell open from shock. "Don't gape, that's nothing." Lailah's mouth fell further opened and Lorelai reached out, closing it for her. "The point is I wear nice pants, not because I _like_ blowing money on 'em, but because they feel good and fit nicely." Lailah couldn't understand as she didn't properly fit in the jeans but Lorelai was determined to show her a better way of things. "We're getting you fitted Levi's girl." A small smile crossed the teenager's features and she rolled her eyes. "Now focus on tops. Some of them look okay."

Lailah went around, pulling a few nicer tops down and tucked them in the basket. First she selected a tight black corset style top with little red spots all over it, she discreetly grabbed a pink/neutral coloured top which was loose and swayed as the breeze caught it. After much argument with Lorelai, she gave a disgruntle groan and jammed a high necked blue shirt in the basket, it was see through and had a small, sweet collar which sat at her throat and bell sleeves which made her arms look super skinny.

After an hour roaming and trying on items, they were about to leave the store when Lailah stepped into the underwear section. She made her way to the packaged underwear and selected a packet of multi-coloured boy leg underwear and some style called boyfriend. Lorelai frowned at this and removed them from the packet, checking the size, discarding both packets, and going around to another isle, Lailah following her, an angry frown on her face. _Was Lorelai really going to deny her underwear?_

Lorelai stood before the hung display of panties. She pulled ten pairs of boy leg underwear down and six of the boyfriend ones, all in Lailah's size and then stood before the nice underwear, appraising the selection. "We'll get that somewhere else." She declared, walking out of the section and up to the checkout.

"Wait, Lorelai." Lailah called, chasing after the speedy woman. Lorelai turned to her and raised an eyebrow in question. "That's gonna cost a lot." She pointed to the knickers on the top of this pile.

"Yeah, and?" asked the woman, eyebrow still raised.

Lailah sighed and pulled a pair off of the top, flashing the price tag in front of Lorelai's blue eyes. "It's six bucks for _one pair_!" Lorelai still stared at her, not fazed at all. "The way I buy underwear it costs me like ten for ten pairs. That's a buck a pair." She stated, tossing the underwear in the basket.

Lorelai pulled the plastic out of Lailah's grasp as she went to take it away from the older woman. "Lailah, just trust me. This has gotta be more comfortable than that crap you grabbed." Lailah still stared at her, head cocked to the side. "Just let me do this my way."

The teen sighed in defeat and ushered Lorelai forward. After paying they went around to a few smaller boutique style shops and quickly left when Lailah rejected almost every item. It was only when they got to a sports store called Lorna Jane that Lorelai saw Lailah get excited and finally get the hang of the whole shopping experience. The girl quickly made her way around the store, pulling down item after item and then quickly depositing them on the register desk. It was only when Lorelai was watching them be scanned up that she saw what Lailah had picked out. There were at least four pairs of tights, six crop tops like the one from Target, three pairs of tracksuit pants, a few jackets, three pairs of super short running shorts that Lorelai wasn't so sure about, and a few sporty tops with the stores name across them.

Next they entered a store called Jay Jays which housed a lot of bright clothes in all fashions. Lorelai's mouth fell opened as she passed a rack completely dedicated to something called 'Nyan cat'. Seriously, some people have no taste. That's why she was so disgusted when Lailah ran over, completely bypassing Lorelai and heading to the rack, pulling off a shirt and grinning madly. "Oh my god! I _must_ have this!" Lorelai frowned but gave a small nod. It was quickly put in the basket and Lailah started pulling down multi-coloured jackets and a few printed tops. Okay, so maybe this was where Lailah would get more creative.

By the time they left the store Lorelai had spent another two hundred dollars. They were on their way to a store called _Jeans West_ which Lailah had assured would stock Levi's when Lorelai spotted it. Tucked away was a small store called _Bra's and Things_. She quickly made her way over and started looking through the items. She pulled down two simple cotton bra's, two sports bras and then made her way to the Playboy section and scooped up five nicer bra's. "Lai, these the right size?" she asked the horrified teen.

Seriously, it was like going bra shopping with your mother, never a good idea. Except for the fact that Lorelai had exceptional taste and had pulled down all undergarments which Lailah would happily wear. "Yeah, think so." Lailah said with a small nod as she checked the tags.

"Cool, well go try them on. Tell the sales chick and she'll check they fit right." Lailah headed off and half an hour later, after four different try's they excited the store with all of the bras and matching underwear for the nicer ones.

"Thanks." Lailah said shyly as she looked up from the small white bag which contained her newest purchases. She knew how much it had all costed. They were running up to the thousand dollar line already.

Lorelai gave a quizzical look. "What for?"

Lailah cocked her head to the side, giving a tiny smile to hide how uncomfortable she was. She was spending all of this woman's money without hesitation and it was irking her that she was already changing. "All of this." She lifted the bags slightly and swung them around. "You didn't have to. It's unnecessary."

Lorelai stopped walking, turning to Lailah and grabbing the teens shoulder lightly. "Hey, if I'm going to be your mom, you needa learn to accept stuff from me. I'm gonna spoil you rotten girl." She gave a wink and still held eye contact with the brown eyes across from hers.

Lailah gave a small smile, her eyes watering at the mention of the adoption. Why someone would want to adopt someone who would be a legal adult in two years was beyond her, but Lorelai did. "Thanks… mum." She grinned.

"Hey, about that…" Lorelai began, spinning and looping her arm through Lailah's as they continued on their path. "You gonna stick to that?" she gave a sideways glance at the teen and caught a confused look across her face.

Lailah's eyebrow cocked and she quirked her mouth. "Stick to what?" it was a reasonable question.

The woman shrugged a little and smiled slightly. "The whole 'mom' thing."

"Do you want me to call you mum?" she asked, slightly hesitant but less nervous than before.

Lorelai tugged a little on Lailah's arm. "It does have a nice ring to it."

The teen gave a full-watt grin and leant into Lorelai. "Okay then, mum it is."

They finally got to the jeans store and Lailah got three pairs of jeans, all skinny-legged. There was a black pair, a faded blue pair, and a dark blue pair, all of which fit exceptionally well. That time she left the store for the checkout part, having caught sight of the hundred-and-fifty-dollar price tag on a pair which she tried on.

Next they made their way to some store Lorelai had heard of called _Forever New_ and insisted on visiting to get Lailah some nice, going out clothes. She also brought up how she'd need clothes for court when they finally got to present their case. When they were two stores away Lailah stopped in her tracks and spun to stare at the shoe store on her right. _All fit_ stocked every type of sports shoe known to man-kind. She looked up at Lorelai with her big brown eyes and jutted her bottom lip out. She quickly enlisted her newest weapon. "Mummy please…"

Lorelai gave in, waving for Lailah to enter. When they made their way into the store they were assaulted by the smell of rubber. The teen lead Lorelai over to the small bench used for trying shoes on and dumped her there with all of the bags. Lorelai pulled out her phone and typed a txt out to Rory; "_**I may need to sell you. Lailah's single handedly trying to empty my bank account :S" **_

Blue eyes looked up searchingly for the ponytail of long brown hair which she was sure would be the only thing she would be able to see. Just as she spotted her, her phone started ringing. **"Hello?"** she answered, having not checked the caller id."

A bright, very familiar voice came through the earpiece. **"Well that's the most boring greeting I've ever received from you." **

"**Hey babe." ** Lorelai smiled down the line and stood, scanning the throngs of people for Lailah. **"How are you?"** she asked genuinely interested and wanting to keep track of her daughter.

Rory gave a small scoff. **"I should be asking you that."** Lorelai laughed. **"How's your wallet?"** she gave a sympathetic laugh.

Lorelai gave a groan and then a small, short laugh, **"its feeling a bit light."**

"**Aw, poor Wally." **

"**Yeah, poor Wally."** Lorelai smiled and spun around when there was a tap on her shoulder. Lailah was standing behind Lorelai with three different styles of shoes in her hands. There was a black pair of vans, a pair of plain black converses and also a pair of black leather ones, and a pair of grey and blue Nike frees. She stood with a huge grin on her face, holding up the shoes while the boxes sat at her feet. "Hey Rory, hold on a minute okay?" she asked her daughter and pulled the phone away from her ear without waiting for a reply. "Lai, you do not need that many pairs of shoes."

As Lorelai stood shaking her head at the teen Lailah nodded along and insisted, "Yes, I do."

Lorelai stood her ground. "No, Lailah. You don't." Lailah still nodded her head. "What could you possibly need those for?" she asked the defiant teenager.

"You don't understand mum." Even though they were arguing, Lorelai's heart still swelled at the loving name Lailah had taken to addressing her with. It felt even more special, knowing Lailah had probably never used it on anyone else before, except her real mother who hardly deserved such an honour.

Lorelai shifted on her feet and then sat down on the bench. "Explain then." She held the phone to her ear and muttered out, **"one more minute."** Before she swung to meet Lailah's gaze.

"Well" began Lailah, holding up the leather converses. "These ones are for school 'cause we have to wear leather shoes but I hate them." Next she picked up the regular pair of converses, "and these are my normal everyday shoes cause mine are falling apart." Lorelai actually nodded at that pair, taking the shoe and sitting it down next to her. Lailah reached for the pair of Vans next, "I just _need_ these. They're super popular and I wanna fit in." She tried to toss them with the converses Lorelai had set aside but the woman stopped her, taking the shoes and setting them on her lap. "And these," Lailah said, picking up the Nike's, "are for sport and everyday use."

Lorelai held up the black all stars and waved them around. "If you have these then why do you need another pair of shoes for everyday?" then she held up the leather ones, "I bought you a pair of the leather school shoes so you don't need these." The vans were under the hammer next, "And you don't _NEED_ these, you want them."

Lailah huffed and slumped down next to Lorelai. "Please mummy? Pretty please can I get them all?" Lorelai was starting to cave in and Lailah could tell. Jutting out the bottom lip again and bouncing on the spot with her hands clasped, Lailah saw her crumble. She had won. "I love you." she said, wrapping her arms around Lorelai.

"Whatever. Just try them on." Lorelai said, shoving the boxes at her. She picked up her phone and brought it to her ear. **"Hey, you still there?"** she asked.

"**She calls you mom now?"** Rory questioned, sounding uncertain.

Lorelai shrugged a little, not remembering that Rory couldn't see her action. **"Yeah well you know I'm planning on adopting her." **She smiled. **"It's caught on."** She rubbed at Lailah's back as the teen bent to tie her shoelace.

Rory was quiet on the other end of the line for a moment. **"That's cool, hey, can I talk to her?"**

"**Um, sure."** Lorelai said, passing the phone to Lailah and squatting down to tie up the brown eyes girl's laces and check that the shoes fit. Lailah looked at her quizzically and Lorelai told her that it was Rory on the phone.

Lailah relaxed back a bit and tentatively spoke, **"hello?"**

The answer from Rory was immediate, **"Hey." **There was breathing on the line for a moment and she continued. **"So I hear we're gonna be sisters**." There was a smile on Rory's face, Lailah could tell by her tone.

"**Yeah, or so mum says."** Lorelai and Lailah smiled at each other. **"It's gonna be hard to get through the courts though." **

Rory quickly agreed, telling of all the research she'd done on the matter for Lorelai. **"... and then there will be problems when you guys get back to the US, too." **

Lailah thought on it a moment. **"The whole citizenship thing, right?"** she asked.

"**Yup."** Rory agreed.

Lailah groaned in frustration. **"We've looked into it and it should be easy but at the same time it's gonna be hard to get everything finalised and stuff when we get there. This is a lot of work." **The teen was already tired, just thinking of all the stuff they would have to do when they got the adoption put through.

Rory had no idea what Lailah was on about. What could be harder than getting to be an American citizen? That was always the hardest part. **"What sorta stuff do you have to do when you get back?"**

"**Well I needa be put on mums health cover, we needa get me enrolled in school which'll be hard, considering we are graded completely different and our years are different. Then we also need to get the adoption verified over there. It's just going to be a very drawn out process." **

The young blue eyed girl let out a sort of 'whew' noise and it resonated down the line. **"That does sound like a lotta hard work." **Lailah nodded even though Rory couldn't see. **"But it'll all be worth it, I mean at least for mom." **

Lailah smiled down at Lorelai who was tying up the laces on her vans. _Like she'd ever tie the laces on them_. **"It's worth it for me too."** Lorelai looked up from her job and gave a small smile. **"I love my new mummy." **

Lorelai gave a wink and yelled loud enough for Rory to hear, "It's only 'cause I'm buying her stuff."

Lailah scoffed jokingly. **"Of course not."** She gave a cheeky wink to Lorelai and sat up. She spotted a salesman walking towards them and decided to end the call. **"So I'd better go but I'll talk to you later, 'kay?"**

Rory laughed lightly at the flashback to her teen years when she was surrounded by people who spoke and acted similar to Lailah. **"Okay."** She said **"and Lai?"**

"**Yeah?"** the teen questioned.

Rory smiled at the phone. **"It'll be great to have you as a sister."**

**Please R&R, I love all of your input and I'd like a prompt for the next chapter. Also inbox me anything you would like for Lialah to have purchased as I will go through all of that next chapter. Now, I am going to bed because I have a killer headache and a sore back. **

**Quote time:**

"**Nobody put's Baby in a corner." -? Come on, this one is easy peasy!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Hello all, long time no see, or talk, or write, or whatever you wanna call it. So I contracted tonsillitis (naturally, not from making out.) and just when I was getting better I went to this big BBQ for a mates birthday and got food poisoning from some poorly cooked sausages. As you can imagine, I've been a bit under the weather, and not really up to writing. I have, however been reading a hell of a lot and come up with some more incredible ideas for this. You can all thank 'PuppiesRCute' for this chapter as that was the PM which finally pushed me to get down to it. So enjoy, this is no way where I wanted to end it but I can hardly keep my eyes open. **

Lorelai was right when she'd said that shopping was fun... it was almost insanely fun. When they'd finished at the shoe store, Lorelai had dragged Lailah to Forever New and pulled item after item off of the racks and shoved them in the teen's arms, only to push her into a dressing room. Lorelai had picked out five dresses, three big coats, two cardigans, four skirts, a bunch of tops, and a pair of nice grey pants.

Everything Lorelai had picked looked good, Lailah wasn't debating that, it all also fit perfectly, that wasn't the problem. The problem was that she looked super girly and she didn't like it. By nature she was a sporty, dress-down type-a-gal. Lorelai had picked out a few things for herself, and a gorgeous dress for Rory which even Lailah could see her looking amazing in. The dress was strapless, baby blue and fell delicately to the floor at the back, coming up short in the front and only just brushing the wearer's knees. To top it off Lorelai had purchased a fake-fur bolero to go over the top and the combo was stunning.

They entered Peter Alexander excitedly and Lailah ran over to the onesies and pulled a purple one with cupcakes down and a grey, pink, and black striped one down next, presenting them to Lorelai and telling her to pick which one she should get. Lorelai had simply insisted that she should get both. They also picked out a couple pairs of pyjama bottoms and three identical long sleeved shirts with hoods to go with the bottoms.

When they'd left the store, Lorelai was actually becoming concerned about her bank account after that big spend, ignoring her worries, they next went to the book store. As Lailah was looking around she'd happened to glance over at Lorelai who was on her phone. The woman looked shocked and kept rubbing her eyes and looking back at the device.

Lailah asked what was wrong and made her way over to her, leaving her pile of books where she'd been. "Um, Luke must've… I think he put more money in my account." Lorelai turned the phone around and Lailah's eyes widened at the figure shown. Lorelai was a… a millionaire? Lorelai went on to explain that she'd had a seriously smaller number that morning. Apparently Lorelai was by no means a millionaire and she wasn't too sure what was happening.

She'd called Luke up and found that, as he was going to be adopting Lailah with Lorelai, he felt the need to support them so he'd joint their bank accounts and kept all of the details as hers and forfeited his own. The teen had jokingly picked up her ten books that she'd decided that she definitely wanted and reached over, adding two more books to the pile. "Well if you're that loaded now imma get more books." She'd grinned and headed to the cash register, getting an odd look from the cashier as she scanned up the three Fifty Shades books. Lailah simply gave a grin and took the plastic bag.

They had finished shopping they went back to the hotel and Lailah went through her new things, Lailah pulled on her new dark blue jeans, Nyan cat top, purple jacket and brand new black ugg boots that went up to her knees. She felt so new and shiny. This was only kicked up a notch when Lorelai presented her with a surprise gift of Versace perfume.

It smelt glorious and Lailah covered herself in three squirts before gently setting it down on her bedside table. They both curled up on the couch with Chinese food and watched yet another re-run of Friends. Lailah was seriously beginning to get sick of the foxtel they had in the room.

Eventually they both went their separate ways to get dressed and met up in the lounge room again, both clad in their pyjamas. Lailah was wearing her pink onesie with the light pink long sleeved shirt underneath, the hood hanging out of the top. Lorelai was dressed in a pair of flannel bottoms and a light long sleeved shirt. Both made their way to the kitchen and greedily made and drank a mug of hot chocolate each, popping some popcorn and going over to the couch, flipping through channels, looking for something to watch.

Just as Lailah was dipping her hand into the bowl to scoop out a handful of buttery popcorn, the TV flashed past a show Lailah was sure she knew. "Go back!" Lailah demanded as she sat forward.

"Okay, okay." Lorelai appeased, flicking slowly back through the stations. Lailah reached over grabbing her wrist and stopping her from pressing buttons. She looked from the TV to the gaping teen sitting next to her. "What's this?" she asked. Lailah shushed her, pulling the remote out of her hands and sitting back on the big leather couch. Lorelai went to talk but quickly stopped when a hand came out and flew over her mouth.

Finally, after ten minutes of watching some bleach blonde woman run around with a kid, trying to figure out which fairytale character had turned into which person, the adverts began. Lailah turned to her, a beaming smile on her face. "It's Once Upon a Time!" Lailah smiled, "The bestest show EVER!" she squealed, almost bouncing in her seat.

Lorelai looked thoughtful for a moment. "Wait; is there a lady in this show named Lana Parrilla?" Lailah eagerly nodded, going on to tell Lorelai how there was a fan-ship between the characters Emma and Regina. Lorelai nodded along, not really knowing what Lailah was on about, just knowing that the shows name had seemed familiar. And now she knew why. "Guess what, I know Lana." Lorelai smiled.

Lailah's mouth fell open in shock. "No way. You've gotta be joking." Lorelai shook her head. "Wait, so you really know Lana?" Lorelai nodded. "How?" Lailah half asked, half demanded.

The woman shrugged, eating some more popcorn. "She stays at the inn a lot. Always dealing with fan mail and making Michelle rehearse lines with her. It's so funny." Lorelai looked over at Lailah when there was no witty comeback or exclamation of the un-believability of the situation. The teen was sat there with her mouth gaping and her brown eyes wide. The first thing Lorelai thought was that one day those eyes would be the death of her and Luke; she just hoped that Rory wouldn't teach her the pout.

Lorelai jammed some popcorn into Lailah's mouth and turned her head back to the television. The girl chewed on the mouthful and then opened it again to question Lorelai further; she quickly closed it though when Lorelai held up a hand to stay quiet and began to speak. "Maybe you can meet her one day but for now can we just finish watching this and go to bed. School tomorrow and I have a hunch I'd like to look into." Lailah simply nodded and sat quietly until the episode was over, rising easily and cracking her back slightly.

When she looked back at the couch she found the woman she'd come to call 'mum' asleep. Her head was slightly lulled to the side and her mouth was completely opened, showing off the more crooked side of her teeth. Glancing off to the side she spotted her quilt that they had collected from the house upon her request. Lailah could easily drape it over Lorelai and stumble her way to bed and be done with it. After picking up the blanket though, she took not of the couch's arm. It was very solid and uncomfortable looking so, tossing the blanket away again and shaking her head she leant down and started shaking Lorelai awake.

Lorelai rolled over as much as she could from her place, sitting against the arm of the couch, and muttered out something about Luke. Once again the teen shook her head and nudged Lorelai who swatted her hand away and grunted out something else about Luke. Clearly it was him who woke her up most often. Lailah didn't even want to get into _that._

As a last ditch effort, the girl stood up straight and yelled out, "FIRE!" it had its desired effect as Lorelai shot out of her seat and started looking around frantically. Once her fear-filled eyes landed on Lailah however, they shifted to something angrier. Lailah had cracked up at Lorelai's reaction and was leant, doubled over on herself as she held her stomach and tears started rolling down her cheeks.

Lorelai's glare was making the back of Lailah's head tingle and she could tell she was in trouble. The older of the two pushed the other over and made her way to the kitchen, filling a glass with water and only chancing a glance at the quickly sobering teen as she was about to leave the room. "There's a line Lailah." She muttered and continued to her bedroom. Watching Lorelai disappear, Lailah started thinking over what she had just done and quickly came to regret her actions.

After filling a drink bottle with water, Lailah herself made her way to her room and put her phone, water, book, and headphones on her bed before heading to the room down the hall. Just as she was about to knock on the door she paused, sucking in air and standing straighter. Her hand came in contact with the wood and she spoke a quiet, "Mum?" before she heard a grunt of approval and entered the room.

There was Lorelai in all her glory, sitting against the headboard with her hair up, glasses on, and throw blanket wrapped around her shoulders, finally looking like a middle-aged woman for once. "Yes Lailah?" she asked and Lailah almost winced at the underlying disappointment in her voice.

"I'm real sorry." She said, walking closer to the bed and sitting on the end. Lorelai sat her book in her lap and moved her glasses. "I didn't know you'd freak so bad." The older woman gave an incredulous look to the teen and she bowed her head. "I'm sorry Mum."

Lorelai shifted, looking more alert. "Don't ever do that again Lai. I don't like fire." Lailah gave her a look, asking for an explanation. She sat up straighter, pulling the blanket a bit tighter. "When Rory and I were living in the Potting shed, I took a chance and moved her cot into a tiny room at the back of the shed. It was a cold winter and it was much warmer in there than it was in the main area so I set up a bar heater and put her to bed. I think she was maybe three at the time and much too big for her crib so it wasn't rare to be woken up for a bumped head during the night or something like it. Anyway, that night the bar heater, which had worked perfectly for years decided to crap out. It short circuited and caught on a massive painting tarp which lit up like the fourth of July." Lailah had a look of confusion on her face for a moment before Lorelai explained. "There's a lot of fireworks on the fourth of July so it's a pretty common expression. But back to the story; I woke up to Rory screaming. I figured that she'd just hurt herself again but when I woke up enough to listen she was actually yelling, "FIRE!"" Lorelai ran a hand down her face and leant her head back. "The tarp was right by the door and I almost couldn't get to her. Luckily there was a tiny window in the back room so I put Rory out that before I ran through and put it out. It was, without doubt, one of the most terrifying moments of my life. We had to completely knock the back part down, that's how badly gutted it was after that. We lost a lot of our stuff and had to do it pretty rough for a while."

The story finished and Lailah was sitting there, staring at Lorelai with shining eyes and a dry mouth. "You understand why I got so upset?" Lorelai asked and Lailah nodded before blinking a couple of tears out of her eyes. Lorelai waved her into her arms and held the girl tightly. "Just..." Lorelai choked a bit. "Just don't scare me like that again." She said, her face in Lailah's hair and arms tightening by the second. "I couldn't bear to get that close to losing you as well." Lailah kept nodding along and then leant back.

Lorelai dried the teenager's couple of tears away and looked her straight in her eyes. "I am so crazy sorry Mum." She said, looking into Lorelai's eyes and feeling so horrible.

"It's okay; just remember not to do it again." Lailah nodded hysterically and Lorelai let a small laugh escape her lips. "Now" she started, pushing Lailah back a bit by her shoulders. "You need to get to bed because we both have big days tomorrow." Lailah nodded and went to leave the room, coming back momentarily to kiss Lorelai's cheek.

When she was in her bedroom, everything actually hit her; she had a great, completely understanding, sweet, loving, and gorgeous mother now, not some dropkick who didn't want the responsibility of a baby. She would have two sisters, a dog, a dad, grandparents, and probably a picket fence when they got to America, and even here Lailah had an amazing boyfriend. That got her to thinking about Jake.

What would happen when she left to go with Lorelai? Would they break up or try for a long distance relationship? Things were starting to look a bit iffy to Lailah but she was absolutely not going to give up her Happily Ever After for a boy, she just wasn't that kind of girl. After crawling under the covers and turning on a lamp, Lailah opened her book and put it on her lap before grabbing her phone and typing out a text message; _**"you have no idea how much I'll miss you." **_ Was all it said, and it said too much already. She hit send and it was off to her sleeping Boyfriend's phone.

When there was no answer, as she had expected, Lailah put her phone on silent and tossed it on the big bed next to her. Her book was opened and she quickly dove into the storyline, escaping from the fate she would soon have to meet.

**Well? Thoughts? I hope everyone enjoyed it, it was fun to write and is completely different from what I started out with in my mind. Anyhow, I'm gonna go out of my usual writing style and give a tiny sneak peak into the next chapter which is unwritten but I have the clearest image of what it'll be. I'll probably write it tomorrow but you never know what'll happen... I may just end up eating a bad piece of gum... *shrugs shoulders* shit happens. **

**Next chapter:**

"So you're telling me that if I call this number and she says it's okay I can take Lailah and leave? We can just go back to America and never return?" Lorelai asked as she waved a yellow post-it in the face of the weird middle-aged man behind the desk. At his nod she pulled out her phone and punched in the number. "What the heck are we waiting for then."

The phone rang for a couple of moments before a feminine voice came through the line, it was young and carefree, careless. "Yeah?" Lorelai didn't answer for a couple of minutes, simply taking in the voice so alike another she knew. "Tommy, that you? dude, if you're fucking around again I'll kick your ass."

Lorelai cleared her throat and finally spoke, "Kimberly James?" there was a grunt of approval from the other end. "My name is Lorelai Gilmore and I'm calling to discuss Lailah James."

"My kid?" came through the phone and Lorelai ground her teeth, not liking the sound of another woman trying to claim Lailah when they didn't even know her.

**DUH DUH DUHHHHH! Just you all wait till you see what's in store. :D catch ya on the flip side. **


	18. Chapter 18

**I am so sorry this took so long to update. It's been super crazy lately and just today my Ex went crazy and we had to call the cops. My life is a bit all over the place. Anyhow, here's a pretty long one for you guys. Enjoy.**

Everything in the morning had gone as per usual except Lailah noted how Lorelai looked much more formal when they left for school and information hunting. Lorelai had stepped out of her room in a pair of high-waisted dress pants with a light blue dress shirt and white coat over the top. She looked spectacular but it put Lailah on edge. She just knew that something big would be happening.

They both left, Lorelai driving Lailah to school and then venturing to her next destination, pulling up and sitting for a moment, reviewing everything in her mind she'd accumulated about the laws on adoption in Australia. Everything was pretty tightly reviewed and the process was gruelling. Finally after fixing her lip gloss and rearranging her curls so they were just perfect. Never doubt the powers of persuasion when it came to looks, that was one thing Lorelai had learnt over the years.

After climbing out of the car and making her way through the big glass door, slightly pausing to take a breath as she approached the reception desk. After watching the receptionist type away on the keyboard for upwards of ten minutes, Lorelai began to think that people behind desks here felt as if they had the right to ignore anybody whom should need their attention. "Hello?" Lorelai spoke loudly.

The receptionist's head snapped up and she gave a smile. "Hello there, how can I help you?" her voice was far too sweet and Lorelai almost imagined a twizzler melting in this lady's mouth.

"I need to talk to somebody regarding Lailah James' case." She simply requested and quirked her mouth and eyebrows when the woman began to look confused. "You do have Lailah's files here, don't you?"

The receptionist nodded and started typing at her computer again, moving the mouse around a couple of times and then looking up at Lorelai with resolve. "Mr. Daniels is handling Miss James' case now. I can call through and see if he has time to meet with you now?" she asked, looking Lorelai over and seeming happy with what she saw. Lorelai had learnt early on, how to dress appropriately for different situations, business meetings being something she was very familiar with.

"Please." Lorelai nodded, giving a winning smile and going to sit in the reception waiting room at the receptionist's insistence. While she was waiting there she logged onto facebook, finding that Davey had tried to do Martha's hair again and it'd ended with Sookie having to cut it off to her shoulders. After having a good chuckle to herself about her niece and nephew's antics, Lorelai looked up to find the receptionist and a pudgy middle aged man talking about her.

This took a couple of minutes and finally, with a calm nod and a calming hand signal to the receptionist, the man Lorelai presumed to be Mr. Daniels made his way over to her, putting his hand out to shake hers in greeting. "Ms. Gilmore?" he greeted.

Lorelai gave a nod, grasping his hand firmly and shaking. "And you're Mr. Daniels I presume?" the man nodded as they un-clasped hands. "It's great to meet you."

Mr. Daniels gave a smile and waved her into his office. When the door was closed, and both were seated, he started typing at his computer, just as the receptionist had. "So I hear you're interested in Lailah James?" he inquired lightly, not looking up from the screen.

With a small nod, Lorelai leant forward on her knees. "Yes, um, as unusual as this sounds, taking into consideration her age, I want to adopt Lailah."

Mr. Daniels stopped typing and looked up in wonder at the woman before him. "You want to adopt Miss. James?" Lorelai smiled and nodded. "Well that should be easy enough to put through." He leant back in his seat, looking over a file on his desk. "Lailah's case is quite simple, yet also quite odd. As she was left with her grandparents when her mother left, and her father was never put on her birth certificate, she was left as a ward of the state. We have her mother's contact details; she simply didn't want to care for her daughter. All of the rights to Lailah are held by her mother, Kimberly James." Lorelai was sitting, just listening to this man talk.

He stood from his big cushy chair and made his way across the room to a failing cabinet, pulling out a large folder and digging through it until he came out with a small business card with writing on the back of it. "Now as I understand, you're American, yes?" Lorelai nodded, and the man continued, walking back to his seat, and setting the card on the desk. "Okay, all you have to do is to contact Ms. James and ask for her to sign over her rights." Lorelai could not imagine ever signing away the rights to her daughter. "She should agree as her only reason for not signing Lailah away years ago was that she wanted to be able to pull her out of the system if things got too bad."

Lorelai picked up the business card, looking over the details. "So you're telling me that if I call this number and she says it's okay I can take Lailah and leave? We can just go back to America and never return?" Lorelai asked as she waved the business card in the face of the weird middle-aged man behind the desk. At his nod she pulled out her phone and punched in the number. "What the heck are we waiting for then."

The phone rang for a couple of moments before a feminine voice came through the line; it was young and carefree, careless. "Yeah?" Lorelai didn't answer for a couple of minutes, simply taking in the voice so alike another she knew. "Tommy, that you? Dude, if you're fucking around again I'll kick your ass."

Lorelai cleared her throat and finally spoke, "Kimberly James?" there was a grunt of approval from the other end. "My name is Lorelai Gilmore and I'm calling to discuss Lailah James."

"My kid?" came through the phone and Lorelai ground her teeth, not liking the sound of another woman trying to claim Lailah when they didn't even know her.

Lorelai's jaw was clenched so hard she was worried that her teeth may shatter. Through her grimace, she answered. "Yes, your child." It was almost painful to be verbally expressing this woman's right to what Lorelai had grown to believe was hers.

There was a small laugh that came through the phone and it enraged Lorelai. "I haven't seen her in _years_! What's with the call now?" Kimberly asked, her complete incompetence showing through her voice.

A smile almost made its way onto Lorelai's features but she had never been a malicious person and she honestly did not wish this woman any harm or sadness. She knew just how hard it was to raise a child whilst in your teenage years, and she also knew that some people were not as strong as she had been. "I would like to adopt Lailah." Lorelai said, hearing a small gasp come through the line.

"You wanna adopt Lailah?" Kimberly asked, sounding shocked, and if Lorelai listened really hard and over-analysed that single sentence, she could almost hear sadness.

At first Lorelai simply nodded, then, after seeing the confused look on Mr. Daniels's face, she spoke. "Yes." There was silence on the line and Lorelai decided to expand, "I'm financially stable, I have a good home, a business of my own, I'm in a happy, permanent relationship, and I love your daughter. She's so great and I would love for her to become part of my family." There was still silence, although there was the distinct sound of heavy breathing coming through. "Can you say something?" Lorelai said slightly forcefully.

The breathing continued for a couple of minutes then a quiet, "Okay." came through. Lorelai broke out into a wide grin. "I have one condition though."

Lorelai's smile faded a bit at that but she allowed it. "What would that be?"

Lorelai had expected there to be a request for money, or something material, and so her shock was palpable when Kimberly spoke. "I wanna see her. Just one last time... to say sorry, and explain why I did what I did."

"Sure." Lorelai conceded, having been hesitant at first, but giving in when she told how she wanted to explain. It turned into something for Lailah, and not something for Kimberly.

Kimberly gave a small sniff, and spoke, "Okay, well you bring the necessary paperwork, Lailah, and I'll sign her over. I think you're better for her than I am. I was never cut out to be her mum."

When the phone call ended, plans having been made for them to meet up that afternoon, at a park right near Kimberly's home, Lorelai got the papers from Mr. Daniels, and left, giving a happy wave to the receptionist. As soon as she reached the hotel, Lorelai put in an excited call to Luke, and then to Rory and almost called her parents but stopped herself just as her finger sat over the call button. It just wasn't the right time, and she was sure they would ruin her good mood.

Time went on, passing very slowly as Lorelai watched the clock, deciding to wait until after the meeting to book their tickets back to America, deciding to give Lailah the choice on when they went back. It was only when the clock struck two-forty-five that Lorelai allowed herself to leave the hotel and go pick Lailah up from school.

The drive went by agonisingly slow and Lorelai was tempted, more than once, to go over the speed limit, and run red lights. Once she reached the school, she waited patiently for Lailah to get out of school. As she watched a ponytail of brown hair bobbed over to the jeep, climbing in excitedly and grinning over at Lorelai. "Hey." She greeted. "How's your day been?"

Lorelai gave a grin, and nodded as she spoke. "It was pretty productive. We needa talk." She drove the car around the corner and parked in a park car park, turning in her seat to look at Lailah's worried face. "So, I went and spoke to someone about the adoption." Lailah gave a nod. "I spoke to a man named Mr. Daniels, and he explained a couple of things to me. Do you understand what actually happened when your mum left you?" Lorelai asked.

Lailah gave a slight shake of her head but explained what she knew. "She abandoned me when she couldn't hack the pace, and then when my grandparents died I got stuck with Joe. There isn't much to it." Lailah frowned.

Lorelai grasped Lailah's hand in hers and looked into her eyes. "Lailah, when your grandparents died, she was asked to sign over her rights to you to the government, and she wouldn't. She said she wanted to be able to get you out if stuff got too bad in the system." Lailah looked on with uncaring eyes. "She was thinking of you." Lailah still held her gaze, looking as if she didn't care what she has done and gave a small shrug. "Because she didn't give you up, I had to call her today."

Lailah looked completely shocked at that, "You spoke to her?" she asked.

Lorelai gave a nod and then continued, "She agreed to meet up with me and sign me over her rights. You'll be mine..." Lailah gave a huge grin until Lorelai continued, "But she set a condition. She wants to meet up with us, to meet me, and to talk to you."

Lailah sat, thinking over everything. At first she was so sure that she would reject her 'mother's' request of meeting up, but then she thought over it. If she did this, withstood the woman she had grown to hate, then she would finally be able to start her life with her new mum. "Okay." She said, giving a hesitant smile to Lorelai.

"Alright, well we're meeting up with her in half an hour. Do you want to go home and get changed first?" Lorelai asked considerately. Lailah gave a nod, deciding that she would rub her new found life in this woman's face.

They drove back to the hotel and rushed up to the room, both splitting to get changed. Lailah opened the closet and looked over her clothes. After a couple of minutes of thought, she started pulling items out. First she grabbed her light jeans, then a white tank top, and then she pulled out a light long sleeved baby-blue shirt, slipping that over her tank and covering it with a big grey coat from _Forever New_. To finish it off she made her way into Lorelai's room and grabbed the flats she wore to dinner a while ago. Lorelai gaped at Lailah, looking at how beautiful she was, and also taking in how fancy she looked. For a moment she considered bringing it up, but then quickly changed her mind, allowing Lailah to present herself however she wanted.

They left after both brushing their hair out, and spraying on some perfume. They arrived at the park which they had agreed to meet up at ten minutes early, leaving the jeep and venturing over to the swings. Both taking a seat on a swing each, they began to swing, both in their own little worlds, neither noticing the woman staring at them. It was when Lailah fell off of her swing and landed on her back, immediately cracking up, that they came out of their little worlds, and both came to be in the same one of manic laughter.

To anyone else they would look like a mother and daughter, simply out for a stroll, but the woman staring at them knew different. She started to approach, just as Lailah and Lorelai stood, Lorelai cleaning Lailah's back. She couldn't hear what they were saying, but as she got closer, she could make out what was tumbling from their rapidly firing mouths. "Are you sure?" Lorelai asked, brushing her hand over Lailah's coat covered back.

"I'm _fine_ mum!" Lailah sighed in exasperation.

Lorelai lifted her hands in a way that one would if they were appeasing a rabid animal. "Okay, I just wanted to make sure you were okay." Lorelai pulled Lailah into a one-armed hug and the teen wrapped her arms around Lorelai tightly. Choosing this moment to approach the duo, the woman stepped up to them hesitantly.

"Um, Lorelai?" she asked, her hands grasped in front of her, feeling as if she was intruding on something private.

Lorelai turned around to face the obviously younger woman, and gave a small smile, trusting her hand out in front of her as Lailah sunk further into her. "You must be Kimberly."

Kimberly grabbed Lorelai's hand, noticing the way that her arm curled tighter around Lailah's shoulders. "Yeah, call me Kim." She smiled. Her gaze next fell to the teenager at Lorelai's side. "Hi Lailah." She greeted.

Lailah pulled a bit away from Lorelai, just enough to fix her coat and stand straighter, fixing Kim with a death glare, telling of her hatred for the woman before her. "Hello." She said, the tone of her voice telling of her pain in simply talking to this woman.

Lorelai took the lead, "I have the paperwork in my car for whenever you're ready." She said, looking straight at Kim.

After throwing her bleached hair over her shoulder and blinking her lids over her brown eyes, Kim fixed her gaze solely on Lailah. "I'd like to speak with Lai first if you don't mind?!" she asked/demanded, not quite knowing whether to talk to Lailah or Lorelai.

Lailah glared at Kim with complete contempt in her eyes, "it's Lailah to you, and if you want to talk, then talk."

Lorelai tapped Lailah's arm, giving her a look that made her sink, clearly knowing when she'd pushed the boundaries and needed to pull her temper in. Their attention was torn from each other as Kim spoke. "I was hoping we could talk in private, you know, just the two of us?" the question rolled around her mouth and flicked off of her tongue hesitantly.

The teen glared at her once again, curling into Lorelai. "No, my mum can stay here." She spat bitterly.

Kim clearly winced at the tone of Lailah's voice and the words she spoke. "Okay." She said, her hands up appeasingly. "I just wanted to apologize." She began, "For abandoning you all those years ago. I'm so sorry but I just couldn't do it. I couldn't be the mum you deserve." She ran a hand across her face. "I was going to come back for you when mum and dad died, I was, I swear." Her eyes were pleading and Lailah gave in a bit, allowed herself to give in to what was happening, the truth coming out and wrapped her arms firmly around Lorelai. "I couldn't do it but I was always there, watching from the sidelines and making sure that things never got too bad. If I had've seen anything bad happening to you, any signs of anyone hurting you then I would've jumped in. Your life is better without me in it. I can see that now."

Lailah stood up from her spot leaning on Lorelai. "My life is better?" she asked incredulously. "You would've helped if someone was hurting me?" she continued, stepping closer. "You were watching?" she stepped up into Kim's face. "So did you notice me being thrown into a foster home? Did you watch me at night when Joe was drinking and I was hiding in my bedroom? Did you try and bust down the door when he was beating the shit out of me?" Lailah was right in Kim's face, her anger obvious and eyes watering.

Kim's mouth gaped opened and then closed quickly, trying to form words. "I'm sorry." She apologized, "I am so sorry!" she reached out to try and pull Lailah into her. The teen beat her hands away.

"Don't touch me." Lailah ground out, stepping back into Lorelai's grasp. "I don't want you in my life. Sign the papers so I can go to America with mum and never have to see these people ever again." Kim gave a weak nod and looked over t Lorelai who quirked her head towards the car park. After a nod from Kim, the trio made their way to the jeep.

When the papers were put on the hood of the car, Lorelai's signature already in place where it was needed. Kim's hand quaked as she scrawled a messy version of her name on the dotted lines. After five minutes Lailah was Lorelai's. Kim gave a weak smile with watery eyes and turned to Lailah. "I hope your life gets better. Never forget that I love you, okay?" Lailah nodded and Kim was off, trekking her way across the oval to her house.

When she was basically out of sight, Lorelai and Lailah turned to each other and gave grins. "Let's get home and book some flights." Lorelai said, climbing into the car and starting the engine.

The plan was to book the flights that night, deliver the papers to Mr. Daniels, and then cancel the rental agreement for the house, but that was to come.

**I hope you all enjoyed. Please PM me ideas for when Lailah and Lorelai get back to America. I love hearing from you guys.. pretty please review. Ps. The more ideas I get, the more I'll want to write and the quicker it'll all happen. :D**


	19. Chapter 19

**Okay guys, so here is the next chapter… one of the penultimate chapters. The move back to America! If there are any mistakes, blame my mum's boyfriend… I typed like ninety percent of this on his computer and the keys are a bit odd. Not my fault ;) well, enjoy.**

Lailah and Lorelai had left Australia the Wednesday after Lorelai spoke to Mr Daniels. They were informed that the papers could go through while they were in America and that there was very little chance of any complications with the process. Having only four days to pack and book tickets meant that Lailah was only in school for one day before they left. Using her day wisely, Lailah and Jake decided that a long-distance relationship was going to be too hard and opted to be friends instead.

They jammed as much as they could in suitcases and were off at five on Wednesday morning. The flights had been quite smooth, only coming across trouble when they had to catch the tiny fifty-person plane to Hartford. Finally, both exhausted, they duo made their way off of the plane, hand luggage grasped firmly in their hands as they both leant heavily on each other. Lailah's eyes were drooping and she now wished that she'd slept on the plane instead of excitedly playing angry-birds on Lorelai's phone almost the whole time.

As they came up to the doors leading to baggage claim, Lorelai spotted a familiar flannel-clad chest and dropped all her bags and made off in a sprint, having found just enough energy to run and jump into the man's arms before she curled her arms around him and slumped down tiredly. It was when Lailah finally made her way to them that she saw the tear tracks down Lorelai's face. "I missed you so much!" Lorelai declared, reaching up to kiss the man Lailah suspected to be Luke firmly on the lips.

"You have no idea." Luke responded, smiling broadly and hugging her closer. Lailah set both her and Lorelai's hand luggage on the ground near the couple. Quietly she made her way over to the baggage claim and pulled their four suitcases off of the conveyer belt. As she turned to wave Lorelai over to grab her bag, she was met with familiar bright blue eyes encased in a young form, a grin slitting the girl's face.

Lailah tried to step around the figure, still trying to get Lorelai's attention. "Hey." Greeted the girl. Lailah shrank back nervously, not knowing who exactly was talking to her, and frankly feeling quite freaked by the overzealous woman. The teen gave a tight smile and a jerky wave. "I'm Rory." The girl confirmed, "You're Lailah, right?" she questioned, stepping closer to Lailah, and making the teen more nervous. Lailah gave a brisk nod, stepping to the side and sending Lorelai a wild look of panic.

Lorelai saw the look and made her way over to her daughters –'wow' she thought, 'daughters'-, and grabbed Lailah's shoulder calmingly. "So I see you guys met." She smiled. Lailah gave a nod, curling into Lorelai's side. Lorelai looked down at Lailah with calming eyes, noticing how the teen had shrunk into herself, becoming the withdrawn girl Lorelai had met a while ago. "So, should we go?" Lailah nodded, reaching across and grabbing both of her suitcases.

"Here, let me take that." Luke offered, taking Lailah's biggest suitcase.

"Yeah, let me take your suitcase mom." Rory said, also grabbing Lorelai's biggest suitcase.

With only one arm each occupied, Lorelai and Lailah clasped hands, Lorelai smiling down at Lailah and the teen returning the smile without hesitation. They all reached the jeep and immediately Lorelai climbed in the back seat, ushering Lailah in while the others packed the bags in the boot. "Thanks." Lailah said, hugging herself to Lorelai.

Lorelai delivered a kiss to Lailah's head and slumped down in her seat, getting comfortable with the shorter girl in her arms. By the time the car started, both of the backseats occupants were asleep, completely lost to the world. Half an hour later the jeep pulled into the driveway of the Crapshack and Luke and Rory clambered out, removing the bags from the boot and taking them inside.

After setting the bags upstairs in Lorelai and Luke's room, they went outside and brought their new location to the attention of Lorelai and Lailah. As the females roused from their sleep, Luke and Rory waited patiently for them to clumsily stumble from the car and into the house. "We're gonna go upstairs for a bit, okay Hun?" Lorelai said, turning her attention to Luke as he stood by the couch. She felt bad, leaving Luke alone again after being apart from him for so long.

Luke gave a nod and kissed her lips tenderly. "Okay, we'll see you when you wake up." Lorelai and Lailah made their way upstairs, coming into the bright room, and wincing as the light assaulted their eyes. Lorelai directed Lailah to get into the bed and closed the blind, plunging the room into darkness. As she curled up under the covers of her bed, she was grateful that she'd listened to Lailah and bought a pair of leggings to wear on the plane.

Both of the girls pulled their jumpers over their heads, leaving them both in tank tops and leggings. They both curled up, Lailah on the right side of the king-sized bed, and Lorelai on the left, just as they'd slept in the hotel. It was a comfort to Lailah, hearing Lorelai sleeping next to her in this new and unfamiliar place, and she quickly fell asleep, dreaming of what was to come from this new life.

Lailah jerked awake from a nasty nightmare. Just before her eyelids fluttered open, Lailah had been wrenched away from Lorelai's loving arms, and into Joe's, both of them instantly going from their place in Lorelai's front yard to Joe's kitchen back in Australia. As Lailah sat up, gasping for breath, she looked out the window, noticing the dark sky, and then looked at the alarm clock on the bedside table; 3:45am it read.

With a tired wipe of her hand over her face, she turned her head and looked down at Lorelai. Her new mum was sleeping peacefully, clearly feeling better about being back in her own bed. After spending a moment simply looking at Lorelai, the teen turned her gaze to the rest of the room. Her eyes fluttered over dozens of photos of different people in different places, they glided over stunning furniture, and danced over the new, plush carpets, and then her eyes were stopped in their tracks.

A male figure was slumped in the plush chair next to the bed, his head propped on a hand with his elbow on the arm of the chair. Lailah took a second, trying to clear her muddled mind and work out who the man was but it was too difficult; a cap was covering the man's face and there was almost no light in the room. Panic overtook her and she dove back down to the bed, shaking Lorelai awake and quickly pointed over to the man in the chair, her mouth not yet working.

Lorelai looked over at the chair and then straight back at Lailah's panicked face. "That's Luke, babe." She said, bringing her hand to the teens face as the girl slumped back to the pillows, placing a hand over her chest. "No one can hurt you here." She appeased. Lailah nodded and they lay, simply staring at the roof for a couple of minutes.

After the silence had stretched on for a while, both parties comfortable and content in the dead of night, Lailah sat up, throwing the quilt from her legs and then standing. She tugged her tank top back into place and then turned to Lorelai. "Toilet?" she inquired.

Lorelai sat up, looking for a second at the en-suite bathroom and then quickly shaking her head as Luke came into view. "Better use the full bathroom. Straight across and three doors down." Lorelai directed.

As Lailah started heading to the bathroom, she heard footsteps behind her and spun to see Lorelai following her. Giving a cheeky grin, Lailah spoke. "You know, I've been toilet trained for a couple years now, I can ever wipe my own bum."

The older of them gave a humoured chuckle and pointed to the stairs. "Actually, although this is a comforting fact, you know, seeing as you're living with me now, I'm going downstairs to get some coffee." Lorelai gave a big grin and gently pushed her way past Lailah, on her way to the stairs. "Going to get your lucky butt totally killed my internal clock." Was her retreating statement.

Lailah gave a retreating grin and made her way into the bathroom. The room was huge, bigger than any bathroom she'd ever seen before. There was a huge shower cubicle in the right corner with a bath the size of a spa across from it in the left corner. There was a lot of floor space and a double mirror and two sinks. Lailah stood in the middle of the room, not knowing what to do with herself. Finally, after a couple of minutes of simply looking over the space, she stepped over to the toilet which was next to the shower, and did her business.

While she was washing her hands she looked at herself in the mirror, only just noticing that it was a cabinet. She checked that nobody was going to come through the door and then opened the mirrored doors, coming face-to-face with a bunch of different items, none of which caught her eye. There was nothing out of the ordinary in there, nothing to really grab her attention. Sure, there were a couple different types of drugs in there, your usual birth control pills, cold and flu tablets, allergy medication, and of course, pain killers.

She closed the door and pun to leave, closing the door lightly behind her as not to disturb the sleeping Luke. She crept down the stair slowly and carefully, wincing as a few squeaky steps creaked under her feet. Finally after almost having a heart attack on the steps, she found Lorelai in the kitchen, at the dining room table with a huge mug of steaming black coffee in her hands.

Lailah made her way over to her mum and slumped in the wooden chair next to her, steaming the mug right out of Lorelai's hands. "Hey!" Lorelai hollered, reaching her hands out to snatch the mug back.

Lailah pulled the offending object closer to herself, "No, no, no!" she said, getting louder every time, "you had your hare while I was in the toilet. My turn." She declared.

The woman cocked her head towards the coffee maker which Lailah noted with deflation was full. "Get your own, the pot's full." She said, taking Lailah's moment of distraction to steal the mug back and started sipping at the hot liquid.

Lailah stood, walking over to the coffee maker and staring dumbly at it for a minute. "Where the mugs at?" she asked, turning back to Lorelai. Lorelai pointed at a glass doored cabinet above Lailah's head and when the teen looked up she started feeling stupid; the mugs were clearly visible through the door. "Duh!" Lailah groaned, smacking her opened palm against her forehead.

Lorelai gave a snort of laughter and put her mug down to wipe the back of her hand against her mouth. "You almost made me spit my coffee everywhere!"

"Oh no, not the coffee!" Lailah said dramatically, throwing her hand back against her forehead. "May as well spit out gold!" she laughed.

"Gold, gold?" Lorelai said also being over dramatic as well, standing and stepping towards Lailah. "Why not compare coffee to dirt?! Gold, my dear is nothing compared to the drink of the gods!"

Lailah gave a mock-stupid look and stared up at Lorelai, cocking her head to the side. "I never compared _anything _to vodka."

Lorelai gave a chuckle and swiped at Lailah's arm, "You shouldn't even know what vodka is." She teased and Lailah finally took her mug to sit at the table beside Lorelai.

After a couple of minutes of silent sipping, Lailah spoke up, "So what's the plan for later today?" she asked.

The older woman gave a small shrug, bringing her mug back away from her lips and setting it on the table, her hands still firmly around it. "Maybe go to the Dragonfly?" she suggested, knowing that going out into the overwhelming world of Stars Hollow might be a bit too much for Lailah at that point.

The brown eyed teenager nodded, her head slightly rolling on her tired neck as she agreed with Lorelai's suggestion. "Yeah, sounds good." She smiled, going back to drinking her coffee. There was another measurable stretch of silence and it was only broken by a door cracking open and footsteps resonating off the walls.

When both women looked up and quickly noticed a sleepy Rory rubbing at her eyes, just having woken up. "Oh, sorry Hun, did we wake you?" Lorelai asked sympathetically, frowning at her own stupidity, not having even thought about Rory's connecting bedroom. Rory gave a nod and stepped towards the table. "We're so used to it just being us back at the hotel." Lorelai said, waving Rory over and wrapping her arms around her skinny, albeit twenty-two year old daughter who took a seat on her lap.

"Yeah, sorry Rory." Lailah said, speaking fully to Rory for the first time and shocking both of the Gilmore women. "Jet lag I think." She said, rubbing at her slightly red eyes and sipping once again at her coffee.

Rory gave a small cough, clearing out her sleep clogged throat, "That's alright; I used to travel and see Logan all over the world. I know where you're coming from. It's pretty annoying but it should get better after a couple days." She explained, giving another cough after hearing how scratchy her voice still sounded.

The teen nodded, standing with her coffee mug and walking to the sink. "Yeah, and sleeping next to mum didn't help any." She gave Rory a wink and they both laughed at Lorelai's shocked and annoyed expression, "She both snores and rolls around. It's almost impossible to sleep in the same bed s her." Lorelai stood up and jokingly strut over to Lailah slowly, raising one eyebrow as she made her way over.

"Really?" Lorelai teasingly questioned.

Lailah coughed and gave a teasing grin as her heel hit the cabinet she was stood next to and she realized that she was trapped. "Um… Joking?" She said, turning to lunge away from Lorelai's arms.

Her effort were futile s Lorelai wrapped her arms around the girl's waist and tugged her back against her body. "Not so fast." She declared through laughter as her fingers started ghosting over the girl's squirming body. Lailah was squealing in laughter and flailing her limbs around.

Rory watched through tears of laughter as Lailah fell to the floor and Lorelai crouched next to her, continuing to tickle the girl's -now exposed- stomach. Lailah turned her head and caught Rory's gaze on her. "Rory!" She squeaked out. "Help me!" she almost begged, trying to wiggle away from Lorelai's hands.

The girl leapt to her feet and stumbled over to the pair on the floor, grabbing Lailah under her arms and pulling the teen away from Lorelai. The girl both started cracking up as Rory tumbled backwards and onto the ground by the stairs. After Lorelai crawled towards the girl's and fell on the floor in a pile of laughter and tangled limbs, that they became aware of the man standing on the stairs, staring down at them with a quirked smile on his lips and both hands on his hips.

The laughter only increased as the three girls clambered to their feet and stood, leaning against the bannister at the bottom of the steps. "What are you guys doing?" Luke asked with a reverberating chuckle.

Lailah smiled and leaned further over the banister, leaning her chin on her arms and pouting up at Luke, "Mum was tickling me." She said. "Rory saved me from her." She pointed at Rory and turned back to Luke with a wide grin. "If mum keeps this up, we are going to have a serious problem. I'm pretty sure it's your job to control her, god knows nobody else can."

Lailah turned to see Lorelai with her mouth agape and eyes glaring. "Mean!" she yelled, pointing a finger at the teenager and walking to Luke, her arms instantly curling around his strong torso.

Luke pulled back slightly from the hug and looked at Lorelai's face which was still frowning at Lailah. "She's right, you know." He laughed and then went silent as he saw Lorelai's glare now on him. "What?" he asked, shrugging his shoulders.

"Traitors!" Lorelai hollered, stepping back from Luke and towards Rory a bit, that is until Rory high-fived Lailah and they both shared a laugh. "Not you too…" Lorelai said in mock-shock as she gave an exaggerated stumble towards the couch. The other three occupants of the lounge room laughed heartily as Lorelai threw a dramatic arm across her forehead and fell backwards and onto the couch.

Luke stepped off of the stairs and clapped Rory and Lailah on their shoulders, "Well, as long as we're all awake, let's go get waffles with chocolate chips." He said, all three stepping towards the kitchen.

When they reached the kitchen doorway, they heard a ruckus behind them and al paused for a moment as the noise got louder and Lorelai pounded towards them, "Not before me!" she declared and bust her way through the trio and into the kitchen, taking a seat at the kitchen table and beating her closed fists against the wooden surface. "Hurry up, I'm starving!"

**So, did you like it? Were there too many mistakes? Anyhow, I'm no longer in High School anymore (I'm starting something called TAFE which is basically different schooling because I got sick of all the teens and infuriating teachers) so I'll have a lot more time to write. Keep the reviews an ideas coming. **

**Alrighty, here is a quote because I haven't put one up in ages! This is for a staring role in this fic as someone at SHH when Lailah starts-I'm not promising you'll become a regular but it's still something. **

"**How's your tummy?"  
"Flat and taut!" **

**I'll give you the how but it's up to you to say character #1 and #2. The show is House. K, go!**


	20. Chapter 20

**WOW! So, it's been like months. I am so sorry guys. You're all such great, great readers and I'm so grateful for your support. I really hope you enjoy. This goes out to all the people who have supported me through the whole journey to this point. Also, someone reviewed asking about what Emily would do when she meets Lai and another wanted some more **_**family**_** stuff, and not just Lorelai/Lailah so I gave them both what they wanted. **

**I've just realized that I'm kinda talking like this is the end but it isn't, I'm just feeling like a bitch for not writing in so long when you've all been great to me. Please review and tell me what you wanna see next... keeps me inspired and keeps my muse in place so I'm not trying to write while thinking all cray cray and shit. ;) R&R **

The Gilmore-Danes family stayed up for the rest of the night just talking and joking around, it all reached a sad little climax when Lorelai fell asleep and the remaining three decided it would be fun to completely re-create Lorelai's face with vegetables and the take a photo to hold over her for as long as possible, though they hit a small bump when nobody could find a camera or their phone in time and she woke up, completely ruining their fun. When the clock ticked over to 5:30am Luke was off to open the diner with the promise of the girls visiting a little later on for their second breakfast.

Finally, after a pretty intense fight over the showers, all three left the house, the two original Gilmore's in fairly decent clothes, while Lailah was dressed in a pair of fashionably tattered black short shorts, a white wife-beater, and a grey vest with long crew cut socks and her black Vans. It was a fairly hot day but a light breeze blew at all three's loose hair as they walked the streets of Stars Hollow. The looks didn't go unnoticed by Lailah, though she did try and ignore them, sticking close to Lorelai, and keeping her sunglasses over her eyes which helped in blocking them out. They'd been approached by Miss Patty with Babbette in tow, both babbling endlessly about how beautiful she was, and how much they'd heard about her from Luke which really meant they'd been eaves dropping as even Lai knew Luke wasn't one to chit chat.

The diner was crowded to the brim as they pushed the door to enter. The hustle and bustle was complete madness, with town members everywhere, all squished close together it was almost suffocating and Lorelai had to get on her tippy toes to find Luke. He was behind the counter processing everyone's orders as fast as he possibly could; sweat dripping from his forehead and soaking into his cap. "Luke!" Lorelai called through the throngs of people.

His head snapped up and he started looking for his Fiancé, coming up blank until he saw her hand waving in the air. "I saved a table for you guys! it's over in the corner!" he said, waving his hand in the direction of the table he had saved for them, though when he turned to look at it it was occupied and the 'Reserved' sign he'd hand written and folded to stand on the table was gone. "Someone took the table. Come back at lunch?" he asked as he served another customer.

"Yeah, see ya later babe! Love ya!" Lorelai yelled back and they left the diner, walking over to the gazebo to organize what they would do since their original plan for the morning fell through.

"We could go to Weston's?" Rory suggested to which Lorelai screwed up her nose. "Al's? I hear they're actually serving pancakes this morning." Both girls shook their heads manically at that. "What do you suggest then?" Rory sighed, flopping back into the bench, completely defeated.

They all sat in silence for a long while until Lailah jumped to her feet, displaying way more energy than she actually possessed, still suffering from jet lag. "How about we just go to the Dragonfly? it's as good of a place as any, and if we go now we can get it out of the way and then chill at home and watch movies for the rest of the day, or maybe we can go somewhere else, I don't know but can we please just do _something_ before I fall asleep." it was all said in one sentence and the teen had to draw in a big gulp of air as soon as she finished speaking.

"Sure, the dragonfly sounds good." Lorelai said with a smile, standing up and pulling Rory up right away.

the three of them made their way to the crapshack, opting to take the jeep over to the dragonfly as it was a fair distance away and none of them could be bothered walking. The dragonfly came into view and Lailah couldn't hold back a gasp. The grounds were stunning, all the grasses bright green, pond shining teal, pool a deeper colour than the sky; just perfect for swimming. In the distance Lailah could see a couple of horses roaming around, no riders, just the horse's peacefully grazing. "Wow." she breathed out, going completely unnoticed by the other two occupants of the car.

"We're here." Lorelai finally announced as they pulled into the car park, stopping in the spot labelled 'owner'. They all piled out and made their way inside, the thick wooden doors parting as a couple departed at the same time they were entering, stopping Lorelai for a moment to tell her about the wonderful time they had had. Clearly they were regulars because there was no way that they'd know Lorelai from when they checked in as she'd been in Australia in that time.

The inside was even more stunning, with dragonflies on all different types of surfaces, but not seeming to take over the space. In a whole it was breathtaking, though what really got Lailah's attention was the library; there were floor to ceiling bookcases with millions of books that she was sure she'd try her hardest to work her way through. She picked through the books for a while, finally pulling out of the shelves a hardcover copy of Alice in Wonderland. The cover was exquisite with foil printing on it and a full colour picture that did not subtract from the beauty of the age which it held.

Lailah put the book back (after making a mental note to borrow it later on) and made her way over to the DVD case, noticing that it was seriously lacking. "Where the hell are the other movies?" she asked Rory who had followed her into the room.

Rory shrugged, walking over to the collection and running her fingers over the six copies of 'He's just not that into you' that they had there. "The guests have a bad habit of taking them. Mom's a nice enough person to think they're doing it by accident but Michelle wants to put up one of those bag check signs."

"Like at the shops?"

"I think he's more into the whole airport type deal. We're talking along the lines of metal detectors and x-rays." Rory laughed, leaning heavily on to bookcase. Clearly she wasn't used to pulling all nighters.

The two girls slipped into a comfortable conversation but were interrupted when Lorelai and Sookie came bustling into the room chatting loudly. Lorelai came to stand behind Lailah's chair that she'd slumped into across from Rory while they were talking, and put her hand on the teen's shoulder. "Sookie, this is Lailah. My new daughter." She smiled gleefully and Lailah lit up at the look her new mum was giving her.

Sookie wrenched Lailah up from her seat and pulled her into a hug that would have surely crushed her had the woman not been so voluptuous. "It is so great to finally meet you! I've heard so much about you from Lorelai and even Luke. That man has really taken to you." Lailah had wide eyes and her arms were flailing around a bit, not entirely comfortable with this stranger just grabbing her.

Lorelai must have seen the look on the girls face as she pulled at Lailah's shoulder while she spoke to her friend, "Okay, that's enough Sook." There was a smile on her face and she pulled Lailah under her arm, tucking the girl safely into her side. "Lai's not really one for hugging." She explained.

"Yeah, it's nothing personal. Just not really much of a people person." The teen backed Lorelai up because it was the truth, "It's nice to meet you though. I've heard so much about your cooking. I can't wait to try something." It was partially true that she wanted to try Sookie's food, and partially just a form of appeasement. She did hear great things about the food but also she wasn't too sure as it came across kinda fancy.

Sookie's eyes went wide and she had a grin like the Cheshire cat. "I'll make you something right now! How does eggs and bacon sound? Or pancakes? Or waffles? Or any variation with chocolate or fruit? I can make just about anything."

Lailah simply looked at Lorelai at a loss for words. "How about you make some of that amazing pasta with the mushrooms and bacon for diner and bring it around tonight? You and Jackson can bring the kids and we can make a big thing out of it." Lorelai suggested kindly.

Sookie was about to reply when Rory interrupted them. "Mom, its Friday. You know what that means, don't try and get out of it!" Lorelai pouted, trying to get her eldest daughter to cave and let her pretend she wasn't in the country for just one more day. "No. I've had to go while you've been gone. I am _not_ dealing with them alone again!"

"Fine." Lorelai huffed while frowning. "Tomorrow night?" she asked Sookie who smiled cheekily, knowing that Lorelai was in for some serious torture tonight.

"Sure hun." Sookie smiled before scurrying off when one of her staff came out to inform her that the roast pork for lunch was burning.

Lailah just watched on in amusement as the woman ran at lightning speed through the swinging doors, knocking over two of the staff on the other side of the doors on the way. After giving in to a small chuckle at the expense of the unfortunate employees she remembered that Rory and Lorelai had been talking about their plans for the night. "What's tonight?" she asked innocently.

"Friday night dinner with Emily and Richard." Lorelai groaned, earning herself a disapproving look from Rory. "It'll be horrible. They're gonna be full of questions."

"What, you mean about where you got a teenager? About why you haven't told them yet? About why you ran off to the other side of the world?" Rory said both jokingly and seriously. She had no doubt that those would be questions her grandparents would ask, but she didn't want to scare Lailah.

"Yes. Among other things." Lorelai pouted and put her head next to Lailah's. "Don't do this Rory. Think of the children." She joked, earning a shove from Lailah.

"We're going. End of story." Rory said sternly.

Lorelai huffed, straightening up and tugging her top back into place. "You suck." She said as she strutted her way out of the room, full of attitude.

Lailah rubbed her neck as she watched Lorelai leave the room, "So, exactly how bad is it gonna be?" she asked Rory.

The twenty year old simply shrugged and started walking out of the room after her mother. "Pretty bad."

Lailah wiped her hand over her face and followed after Rory, finding her leaning against the reception desk annoying a man who spoke with a thick French accent. She figured this was Michelle from all she'd heard about the man. Lorelai was not with the duo and Lailah's brow furrowed, figuring she'd be there bantering along. "Where's mum?"

Both Rory and Michelle looked over at her. "Ah, this must be the little Australian orphan your mother has been talking about? How darling, did she get sick of looking at puppy's through the pet store window and decided to go get a new exotic pet?" his right eyebrow was raised and his eyes were squinted.

Lailah's brow furrowed as she studied the asshole before her. "The fuck man? What is your problem?" she demanded with a raised voice, going to step around the counter and finding the man took a step back at her step forward.

"Rory, call your mothers animal off please." Rory put a hand on Lailah's shoulder which the teen shrugged off, taking another step forward. "I will call pest control if I have to." He spat out, his eyes frantically going between the girls.

Lailah almost growled as she lunged forward, going after the man who simply ran circles around the counter. "You're fucked now, asshole!"

"Lorelai!" Michelle screamed as he passed her office door.

Lailah let out a malicious laugh at his show of cowardice. "That's right, call mummy to save you." she continued after him, chasing him into the library as her scurried around different pieces of furniture.

"What?" they heard come from the front desk and then heels started clicking towards them. She came into view and Lailah only chanced a glance as she chased the rude man around a couch. "Lailah!" Lorelai yelled when she saw her daughter chasing a frightened looking Michelle.

"Get back here you pussy." The teen yelled, jumping over the couch they'd been circling for a couple of minutes now.

Lorelai strut forward and grabbed the back of Lailah's top, pulling her to a stop. "Enough." She growled and Lailah realized that maybe she had lost her temper a bit.

"Whatever." Lailah said twisting and making her way out the front door and walking out onto the field to her right. "Fuck sakes." She said to herself as she messed up her hair, pulling at it a bit and then throwing her arms down as she leant heavily on a wooden post that made up part of the fence. "Arghhh!" she yelled into the air.

The teen stood there for a couple of minutes simply breathing and trying to calm down. Her eyes were shut and her breath was coming out of her nose in rapid spurts angrily. It was when she was about to walk away that she felt something big and wet sniff at her hand. Wait, sniff? Lailah's eyes snapped open and she came face to face with a big brown horse. Her hands came up to rub at its face lovingly. "Hey buddy, what's your name?" she smiled.

The horse merely snorted and jutted its nose closer to her face. "Really? Is that so?" she joked, laughing lightly as she looked around her, not seeing anyone, she stepped up onto one of the wire lines that made up the fence. Checking once more she clambered over quickly and did a bit of a short jog to get further into the field as if to seem like she was there the whole time, and not like she'd just climbed over the fence. "C'mon Bud." She called as she ran a little further. The majestic horse followed her with heavy clomping steps, and stopped when she leant against a big tree full of leaves.

"You like it here?" she asked as she rubbed along his side. His tail swayed a little more aggressively at her voice. "I'll take that as a yes." She smiled while leaning against the beast in front of her. She expected him to move but he simply swung his head around to look at her. "Me too. I especially love the library." Lailah sighed serenely as she always does when thinking of books. "So many different worlds to explore. So many different lives to live." She was staring off into the distance, thinking of all the different places in the world that she could be, and yet here she was, living something akin to a fairytale. Seriously, what were the odds that of all people, Lorelai would accidentally find her and adopt her? "But I like this one."

There was a rustling of fallen leaves behind her and then a voice spoke. "Cletus is very familiar with the library. He took a very unfortunate field trip inside the Inn when we first got him. There was some pretty serious carnage. We keep a cracked vase on the mantle to remind us never to leave the wildly obscure horse standing in the room." Lorelai was leaning against the tree, mere centimetres away from where Lailah was now leaning her forehead against Cletus's.

"I figured it was just an antique."

Lorelai laughed lightly and stood, rubbing Cletus's back calmly. "We keep it because it _is_ an antique. Can't really afford to replace it at the moment." There were a couple moments of silence between voices until Cletus huffed and started walking away.

Lailah's eyes followed the horse and she huffed under her breath, "traitor." Knowing that now that he was gone, Lorelai was going to branch the subject of what had transpired back at the Inn.

"So, that was a bit of a freak out back there." She half sighed, half groaned. Lailah simply nodded, a frown on her face and a grim look in her eyes. "What was that all about?" she asked as her hand ghosted over Lailah's arm.

"He called me your new pet, and compared me to a dog."

Lorelai groaned, and rubbed at her forehead lightly. "That's Michelle for you."

"That's an asshole for you." The teen growled.

"You can't take anything he says seriously. He's just angry at the world."

Lailah sighed in defeat but she was still upset. "I guess it's still a bit new. It's just that every time someone says something like that it brings it all back... I was alone and unwanted for so long that it takes me a good hour every morning to remember that I'm not alone anymore. That I've got you and you're not running." Lorelai's eyes softened as she looked upon the sad girl she'd brought into her life, and planned to stick there with superglue, or concrete. "Don't pity me; just give me a little bit of lee way for a month or so. Just to get used to it."

Lorelai wrapped her arm around the teen's shoulder and pulled her tightly into her side. "Okay."

The duo walked back to the Inn, entering through the back door, which consequently didn't require climbing any fences. They entered the kitchen, pulling a snap-lock bag of cookies down from one of the top shelves and tugging it open and both plunging their hands into the treats. They arrived in the reception area just as Michelle was coming in the front door, though when he spotted the teenager he backed out quickly. "At least you won't have to deal with him anytime in the foreseeable future." Lorelai winked good naturedly but also quite seriously. Michelle was quite well known for holding grudges.

They both went into Lorelai's office to eat their cookies in peace; with Rory of course. For a few minutes it was silent apart from the munching of chocolate chips and cookie pieces until finally Lailah got curious as to what was meant to be happening tonight. "So, do we have plans for tonight or not?" she asked Lorelai from the couch she was spread across.

Lorelai nodded with a full mouth. "Yeah, Rory's still making us go to Friday night dinner in hell."

Lailah looked to Rory for further explanation which the older daughter easily provided, "We have Friday night dinner with my-I mean technically _our_ grandparents-tonight. Mum kinda hates going." Lailah simply laughed at the face Lorelai made as she smacked her forehead against her desk.

**~ ~ ~ GILMORE GIRLS GILMORE GIRLS GILMORE GIRLS GILMORE GIRLS GILMORE GIRLS ~ ~ ~**

It was six thirty when the four Gilmore-Danes' were standing uncomfortably on the Gilmore's doorstep, all fighting about who was going to ring the doorbell. Lorelai was arguing that she shouldn't have to do it because she is the mother. Luke said that he kept them fed. Rory argued that she was the oldest child. And Lailah was so tired that she just jabbed the doorbell after rubbing at her eyes. As Lorelai napped that afternoon Lailah chose to stay up, figuring that if she could last all day then she'd sleep all through the night and be able to easier straighten out her sleeping pattern. It was proving to be seriously difficult.

The door opened a minute later and the maid gestured them in, taking their coats and purses which Lailah simply marvelled at. How could someone be like that, just take orders because someone says so?! She quietly brought the subject up with Lorelai to which she was informed that the maid was probably paid around eighty thousand dollars a year.

"So..." Lorelai began as she tugged Lailah's skirt straight, pulling the high waist up over her silk shirt and tucking the girl's hair behind her ears while she lightly patted the teen's cheeks to wake her up. "Don't take anything my mother says to heart, also you needa be on your best behaviour with some crazy manners. My mother is like Hitler but with silver cutlery and cotillions."

Lailah took a step back while slapping Lorelai's hands away. "Mum, stop."

"Fine." Lorelai grunted and started fixing her own clothes before leading them into the living room. "Hey mom. Hi dad." She greeted after spotting them both. Richard, as always was in the armchair reading a newspaper, while Emily was on the couch with a gin martini.

"Hello Lorelai" she said as she spotted her daughter, soon followed by her granddaughter, "Rory" and then her new son-in-law entered the room, "Luke" and then a teenage girl she didn't recognize came into the room rubbing her eyes. "Hello, Rory, who's your friend?" she asked coolly.

Rory smiled, and pulled her sister into her side, "This is Lailah. Mom has something to tell you."

Lailah's eyes flicked between Emily's cold stare and Lorelai's face which was a mix between love and terror. She figured that her mum must be scared about telling her mother that she'd adopted a teenage girl only a couple of days ago without telling her parents. Lorelai made her way over to her daughters and threw her arm around Lailah. To that action, the teen leant her head against Lorelai's shoulder, "Mom, this is Lailah..." she took pause as she watched her mother's face. "... My new daughter."

Emily's mouth gaped, soon followed by Richard's mouth. "WHAT?!" she hollered, jumping to her feet. "You have got to be joking, right? Lorelai, this is not funny."

"I'm not joking. I adopted her last week."

"From where?" she asked in astonishment.

Lailah tried to straighten her clothing out while still keeping Lorelai's arm around her. "Australia. That's where I disappeared to." Lorelai explained while tightening her grip around Lailah and looking at the teen to check if she was alright. She seemed fine with the exception of her red eyes and tired face.

Emily groaned in frustration and started pacing around the room. "That's just like you Lorelai. You just run off at the drop of a hat and make huge life changing decisions without taking even a moment to consider it. And of course I'm always the last to know."

The awkward teen felt as if she should defend her mum's decision to save her. "Actually, if I may say so, Mum and I have known each other for close to a year now. She saved me." Emily's eyebrow rose as she crossed her arms across her chest and sat back down, devoting all her attention to the girl standing before her. "I had a pretty shit life –excuse my language- before Mum came for me. My mother had me when she was fifteen and abandoned me when I was only a baby. I got to live with my grandparents until I was three and then they died, which meant I either had to go back to my birth mother or I would be put in the system. My mother still didn't want me and I got stuck with this guy called Joe as my foster carer. He drinks a lot, and when he gets pissed he gets pretty violent which meant I was on the receiving end of one too many nasty moods." Lailah buried herself further under Lorelai's arm and hugged her as tight as she could. "One night I was just surfing the net and I found an article Rory wrote, I added her on facebook, and things went from there. There was a particularly bad day where I rang Mum in tears and she came for me. It was the only time I ever really felt worthy of love." Lailah walked away from Lorelai and around the couch in front of her, sitting down with her head in her hands she continued. "She gave me a home, she gave me love, she provided for me, and she saved me. We went to meet with my birth mother and got her to sign over her rights to me and basically that's how we got here. I was lost, and she found me, and now I'm sitting here explaining it all to you."

When she looked up Emily looked slightly more understanding, Richard was sitting with his mouth agape, Luke had sad eyes, and Lorelai crying into Roy's shoulder quietly. "Well then..." Emily said as she stood and started around the coffee table to Lailah. "Welcome to the family." She smiled, grabbing the teenager's hands and looking down at her with soft eyes. Quickly enough her eyes turned cold and snapped up to Lorelai, "how could you not tell me about her Lorelai?"

Lorelai's eyes widened and her mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water for a moment, and then snapped closed quickly. "I'm... sorry?" she questioned, feeling oddly about the situation. She couldn't really decide whether she was in trouble or should be happy about Lai being accepted.

"Yes, Lorelai, you should be." She grunted, straightening up and letting go of Lailah's hands. All members of the room watched in shock as Emily once again grabbed Lailah's hand and tugged the girl to her feet. "Let's go into the dining room and you can tell me all about yourself."

Lailah looked to Lorelai for both permission, and to check whether this woman was being serious. Her Mum simply nodded as she wiped at her eyes. Lailah freed her hand from Emily's and walked over to Lorelai, burying herself in her Mum's arms. "I love you Mummy." She grinned with watery eyes.

"Love you too baby." Lorelai smiled back.

All six members made their way into the dining area where Lailah and Rory say next to each other, across from Luke and Lorelai, and on the ends sat Emily and Richard. Conversation easily flowed through the meal, covering everything from Lailah's schooling to her favourite colour.

Soon enough the night came to an end and they were all making their way to the front door to collect their coats. Lailah was leaning sleepily and heavily on Lorelai's shoulder which had caused the woman to trip more than once. "Luke..." Lorelai whispered over Lailah's shoulder and without warning Luke scooped Lailah up into his arms bridal style. The teen's eyes snapped open in alarm for a moment before seeing Lorelai and receiving a calming "it's only Luke" from the woman. Lorelai turned to her parents after putting on her coat and hanging Lailah's over her arm. "Sorry, jetlag." She explained with a small smile. "See ya next week." She waved as they left the house. Luke buckled Lailah into the front seat after Lorelai and Rory climbed in the back seat, all of them agreeing that it would be easier for Luke to get Lailah into the house that way.

Luke took Lailah into the house, and laid her in the spare bedroom that would soon be decorated into her own room. Lorelai soon followed after Luke left the room, pulling off the girl's top and skirt before tucking her in wearing just her tank top and underwear. "Night baby. Love you." And finally, after saying goodnight to Rory, Lorelai got to climb into bed next to Luke and simply be held by him for the first time in months. Could life be better?!

**So, did you like it? I sure enjoyed writing it, especially the whole Michelle v Lailah part. **

**So, what do you wanna see next? Please let me know and I should update quicker. **

**Quote time: "I saved some for a rainy day."  
"Well it's storming like a bitch out there. where is it?" –what show is it? Hint; it's one of my all time favourites though I've never written it. **


	21. Chapter 21

Lailah awoke the next morning to the sun shining in her eyes. Oddly enough she felt well rested. She didn't know where she was, or how she got there but she was well rested. It also helped that this was in no way her room back at Joe's so she took comfort in the fact that Lorelai hadn't been a dream. She rose from bed, putting on some pyjama bottoms and a bra, cracking all her limbs and sighing before stepping out into the hallway. It was then that she realized she was in the crapshack with Lorelai and Luke asleep two rooms over, and Rory downstairs. The rest of the house was dark as all the blinds were pulled tight.

She wandered downstairs, skipping as she made her way into the kitchen to get a glass of water. Her eyes wandered around the room and she saw that it was only 5:30 in the morning; no wonder she was the only one up. After hanging around the kitchen for a minute and wondering what the hell she was meant to do for the rest of the morning, the teen crept back up the stairs and into the room she'd slept in. All of her stuff was in there since Lorelai insisted that they were going to redecorate it the coming weeks so that it was specifically Lailah's.

The girl considered just reading or trying to lip read the early morning news on TV downstairs as that was another thing Lorelai said they'd get for her room. After going through the books she had in her suitcase and deciding she didn't want to read any of them just at that moment, she started to unpack her suitcase and stack her clothes neatly in the corner. Her hands stopped on a pair of running shorts and a sporty crop top. Finally Lailah decided to just change and go for a run, she seriously needed to kill some of her built up energy.

When she got downstairs in her running attire and Nike frees she rummaged around on the desk near the foyer, looking for a piece of paper to write on. After five minutes of not being able to find anything she spotted Luke's notepad and pen on the mantle along with his keys and wallet. She scribbled a quick note that read:

"_Mum, Dad, Rory,  
Gone for a run around town. Be back later. If I get lost I'll find my way to the diner and call.  
Love, Lailah. Xxx"_

The note got stuck to the coffee maker as she knew that Lorelai would make coffee as soon as she got up, so would Rory, and if Luke were the first up then he'd most probably make it for the girls. Lailah stepped out of the front door and jumped off of the porch, plugging in her headphones and pressing play on a mix her friend Tori had made for her to run to. It was entitled "Misstorie Megamix" as Tori would never tell her what was in the mix, and she always seemed to get called Miss Torie playfully when her and Lai were hanging out. The mix was full of beaty music that pumped the girl up, pushing her forward on even the laziest of days.

Her stretching was thoroughly done after five minutes, and she broke into a jog out of the yard, before breaking into a full out sprint after turning to the right. The morning was beautiful and unlike any other Lailah had seen. America was so different than what she had expected. I mean, sure, she figured it'd be different but it was seriously noticeable in the morning and at night. Here all the leaves were different hues of green and the tree's look strong and for lack of a better word-moist, whereas in Australia the leaves would be a browner colour and the trees all looked dried and brittle.

The sun peaked through the leaves as she ran down a quintessential suburban street with white picket fences and rocking chairs on the porch. She wished she'd brought her phone with her to take a photo but was glad she hadn't a moment later when she had to adjust her iPod sports strap a moment later as it slipped again. It was the perfect morning for running, and the perfect place to do it.

An hour later Lailah ran back into the yard, pushing it the last hundred metres, and slowed her pace to a jog, before walking to the middle of the yard and doing some calmer cool down stretches. The burn in her legs and chest were pleasant and gave her a sense of comfort at being able to still indulge in the small things. She finally pulled her headphones out and started walking up to the porch when she finally noticed the figures on the porch. Lorelai and Rory were sitting with their mouths agape on the porch swing, both nursing mugs of coffee, while Luke was leaning against the front door. "Um... hi?" Lailah said as she took the steps up to be level with her family.

"I cannot believe it." Lorelai said as she looked Lailah up and down. "You weren't kidding." Her shock was evident but the teen wasn't sure what she was so shocked about.

Lailah quirked an eyebrow, and drank from the water bottle she'd stashed behind one of the posts. "I don't think I was. Fill me in about what I was meant to be 'kidding' about." Lailah said and put quotation marks around the word 'Kidding' for emphasis.

Lorelai swung her legs and kicked her and Rory into a more steady swinging motion on the chair. "I figured the note was a joke and you'd be up in bed, but then you weren't and I figured you must have gone for a wander around town, but you seriously _ran_! I cannot believe a child of mine actually _ran_!" Lorelai was still in disbelief at the vision of Lailah in running shoes, hair up, and scantily clad in some pretty serious running gear. She'd seen the girl sprint up the street, and if that was any indication of the time that had preceded it, then she could understand the sweat dripping off of her.

While Lorelai was still sitting there with her mouth hanging open, Rory offered Lailah her coffee mug to which the teen declined, furthering Lorelai's shock. "What? I don't wanna get hyped up just yet. The caffeine will totally put me in overdrive. My hearts beating fast enough as it is." She shrugged.

Luke came out of the house with a towel and a bottle of orange Gatorade, taking Lailah's water and replacing it with the opened bottle of drink, before handing her the towel. He gave a small smile and gestured to the yard where she'd been stretching minutes ago. "You were doing that stretch wrong. Probably do more harm than good if you hold it for too long."

Lailah didn't notice that this was odd behaviour for Luke and easily continued the conversation while wiping sweat off of her face before holding the towel to her bare mid drift. "What one?" she asked.

"The thigh one. You were lunging too far-drink more-into it. You'll pull something if you keep it up. Only lean enough to feel it lightly. The further you lunge, the further you're pushing your muscles before the actual work out. Stretch like that too often and you'll loosen your muscles too much and won't be able to hold distance or speed." Luke had stopped mid sentence to tell Lailah to drink more before continuing. Lorelai and Rory still sat watching in shock of the scene before them, taking a second to glance at each other every so often. It was like Luke was really connecting with Lailah and it thrilled Lorelai to no end. Sure, he did well with Rory and April, but it was different with Lailah, almost like he was able to talk to her about things he'd discuss with his perfect child. They'd had a pretty intense and in depth discussion about cooking the other day, and now this. It's all the stuff Luke had never been able to talk to the girls about, and now here was this girl who was almost the perfect puzzle piece. Both Lorelai and Luke's legally, the perfect mix of Luke's and Lorelai's interests who looked as if she could be their child by birth if not for her brown eyes.

Lailah nodded, clearly taking in everything Luke was saying. "I'll keep that in mind. Gonna head for the shower though. I'll be down in a minute." She waved them all goodbye and disappeared into the house with her towel slung over her shoulder, Gatorade bottle tipped up and the rest running down her throat.

As soon as she was inside the house, Lorelai and Luke clapped eyes and there was a silent conversation that passed between them, discussing how perfect this girl was for their family. "She could run track if she goes to SHH" Rory said, interrupting their telepathic conversation with a very valid point, though they hadn't really discussed Lailah's schooling before.

"Well we don't know if she'll be going to Chilton or Stars Hollow High yet. We can afford either so ultimately it's her decision." Lorelai said with a shrug. It was true, at this point Luke and her had only decided on one thing; that they would share Lailah's financial costs and share parenting equally the whole way. That meant two things- that Lai would have what neither Rory, nor April had had; both parents, and also that they could afford to send her to either school, metaphorically they could afford to send her to both.

Luke shrugged against the post he'd taken to leaning against. "We'll just have to give her the option, make sure she's fully informed, and let her pick. She's old enough to make her own decisions and it sounds like she's had enough of them ripped from her before that she deserves it." There was a moment between the three of them that was mostly filled with thoughts about Lailah's past. "You know, I'd really like to get my hands on that son of a bitch that hurt her." Luke ground out through clenched teeth as he thought of Joe.

"We all would hun." Lorelai appeased with a hand soothingly rubbing his shoulder from where she'd come to stand at his side.

Conversation died down and the three occupants of the porch made their way inside to have more coffee and some breakfast. Lorelai was well into her third mug of coffee when Lailah came downstairs in a pair of tight black ¾ jeans and a ratty oversized Yankees jersey. Rory came out of her room just in time to see Lailah enter the room. She took one look at the girl's top and a quick glance at Luke's turned back before letting out a low whistle and a giggle at Lai's unfortunate future. Lorelai came to the same conclusion and greeted, "Nice pants."

Lailah looked down with a confused look at her legs and back at a giggling Lorelai, "Thanks? You've seen them before. You bought them." She was thoroughly confused.

"Yeah, did I buy that whole outfit?"

Lailah shrugged her shoulders under the huge shirt and pulled at the bottom of it. "Na, got this top from the Salvos like last year. Figured I'd better have something American."

Luke turned around as Lailah was tugging her top this way and that, trying to get it to fall just right. His mouth dropped open and her gestured up stairs with a stern finger. "Upstairs. Change. Now." He ordered firmly but not forcefully.

"What?" the bewildered teen asked which simply caused more laughs to bubble from the brunettes at the table.

Rory figured she had better do her job as the big sister and fill her in on Luke's frustration. "Luke's a pretty hardcore Red Sox fan." Lailah still looked at her confusedly. "The Sox and the Yankees are like arch enemies. Basically in this house the Sox are heaven, the Yankees are hell. It's nothing personal, just go change before he blows a gasket." Lailah spun on her heels and hightailed it up the stairs, muttering to herself that her family was crazy. _**(A/N: no offence to Yankees supporters-they're my team of choice too- and also no offence to religious people. Every fic I've read around GG and baseball has had Luke as a Sox man so I'm just gonna go with that. Also they aren't that far from Boston... moving on)**_

"I blame you." Luke said to Lorelai while pointing to where Lailah was retreating up the stairs.

Lorelai held her hands up and demanded jokingly, "How is this my fault? I don't even like baseball." Luke went back to preparing the food he'd been making before the t-shirt incident, completely at a loss as to what he should reply with.

Lailah quietly entered the kitchen in a plain grey t-shirt with an open, faded, baggy mock-denim button up over the top. "It's your fault coz u picked a dud." He grinned, finally coming up with a response. Lorelai and Rory both cracked up at the comment, not hearing Luke joke all that often and always finding it unexpectedly funny when he did.

Lailah simply glared at the back of his head jokingly as she held onto a mug of steaming coffee. "Thanks a whole lot." She said sarcastically as she took a seat between Rory and Lorelai at the table.

The man spun with a look of horror on his face, just furthering Lorelai and Rory's amusement, and finally making Lailah laugh. "I am so glad you know it's a joke." He said which coming from him was almost like someone wiping their forehead with a squeegee and producing a river as they wrung it out.

"I know you totally love me." She winked which caused all the girls to laugh harder and Luke to smile.

When the laughter had subsided Lorelai put her hands on top of the table and leant back in her chair with a little groan, "On a more serious note; we need to get you back in school. There are decisions to be made around that and they need to be made quickly." Lorelai took pause to look at Lailah seriously and take a sip of her coffee. "Luke and I have talked and we've decided that you can pick where you wanna go. You can go to Stars Hollow High here, or you can go to Chilton Prep in Hartford."

Lailah thought over the options and really had to think. She'd probably be more comfortable in public school, but then again it had never really challenged her so she seriously considered Chilton, though she wasn't too sure she'd last through their snobbish behaviour without getting in a couple of fights. "What kinds of classes do they have at Chilton and Stars Hollow?" she asked, because in the end it would all come down to which one had the subjects she wanted to do.

Rory figured this was also another area she should cover, considering she'd attended both schools, and because she was the big sister who was supposed to supply all the worldly knowledge around boys and which teachers to avoid. "Chilton is mostly written stuff. There's History, English, Math, science, all your usual subjects. They have art but it's not really that big of a focus. They only have it one semester a year and the same with sport. They do fencing and PE which are your basics but they also have like hockey and lacrosse but not much else and they're the same as art; not a major focus. You have to have studied two languages by graduation, no matter when you start there so you'll probably be pushing it. They have German, Chinese, French, Spanish, Greek, Italian, and Indonesian."

Lailah's eyes were so wide Lorelai was sure they would pop out of their sockets as Rory was talking. Her oldest daughter continued and she took comfort in knowing that SHH was a lot easier going, their work load a lot less and teachers a lot kinder. "At SHH they have the basic subjects like English, math, science, history and such but they have a pretty big focus on sports. They have an amazing track team and their ice hockey and football teams have gotten pretty far into the seasons undefeated the last couple of seasons. They have baseball but it's not focused as the schools they would need to compete against are too far away to travel to. They have multiple art classes that you can take for a semester or major in and take for the whole year and then keep following it till graduation. There aren't really any things that you _have_ to do to graduate SHH except pass all your classes."

Lailah looked like she was thinking hard for a long time and Lorelai decided to interrupt her musings. "What you think babe?"

"I don't know." She rubbed her hand across her face for a minute before looking to Luke for guidance, "Where did you go?" she asked him.

"Stars Hollow High. I was on the track team." Lailah nodded and looked to Lorelai next, simply asking the question with her eyes.

Lorelai released a small laugh before answering. "I went to Hillcrest Prep before I dropped out." Lailah looked a little confused for a minute and Lorelai decided to explain. "Imagine Chilton on steroids in every aspect."

Lailah groaned and thumped her head on the kitchen table in frustration. While it was exasperating and infuriating when people made decisions for her, making her own decisions-especially when they were so big-was hard and she honestly considered handing over the reins to Lorelai. She kept her head down for a while before looking up at Luke and Lorelai through her eyelashes and saying quietly, "I wanna go to Stars Hollow. I don't think I can handle Chilton."

Both adults nodded and Lorelai put her hand on Lailah's back, rubbing soft circles there. "I think that's a good choice, babe. We'll need to see about starting you when they go back. We can do the rest if you'd like? You can just pick your classes?" Lorelai asked with a smile.

Lailah nodded her head with a smile, glad that Lorelai understood her as well as she did. Rory broke the moment between Lorelai and Lailah with a huge grin, "And at Stars Hollow you don't have a uniform, just wear whatever you want. It's both great and stressful."

The teens eyes got wide and her mouth dropped open so wide it looked as if her jaw had unhinged. "WHAT?! Are you kidding me?"

Luke let out a deep chuckle as he brought over the plates of breakfast to the table, kissing Lorelai's cheek as he placed her plate in front of her. "Told you it was a good idea to leave that till last."

**So, what you think? Someone suggested I cover Lailah's schooling and I had another review talking about the interaction and decided to slip some Luke/Lailah in for good measure as she doesn't seem to really do anything with him or talk to him from pervious chapters. Anyhow, the person who reviewed under 'MadInSalem' you answered right and I don't know if you gathered it from previous chapters but if you get the question right I'll write a fic for you to a show (Once upon a Time, Gilmore Girls, Parenthood, Buffy) of your choice (you provide characters, storyline, and any other specifics you may want in there), I'll work on a fic of mine which you choose, or you can feature in this though you'll have to provide me with a name to address you by. So get in contact and I can do that for you. **

**Hope you enjoyed it. Please R&R.**

**Quote: "Why is our medical rainbow missing brown and bi?" –Character and show are the same thing so provide me with both. :P Probably just gave it away then but anyhow. **


	22. AN 4

A/N: okay everyone... So here it is: I'm thinking of doing something possibly detrimental to the story and mostly Lai. I need a few people's oppinions before actually doing it though as I truely love these characters and this story but I want to try this out. If you are willing to help me then please PM me or Review that you're happy to answer one simple question. All I will ask of you is your brutal honesty as I'm not going to do what I'm thinking of if it will be received badly by my readers who are one of the only reasons I write.


	23. Chapter 23

**Just a quick little thing before I work on the next chapter which I've had in mind for a couple of days now, and then I'll probably dive into the idea I've spoken to some of you about before. So enjoy this little bit of Gilmore-Danes madness. **

"So, what do ya wanna do with the rest of the day?" Lailah asked her family while they sat at the kitchen table.

After breakfast Lorelai disappeared to have a shower and get changed for the day which had taken nearly an hour and caused a pretty loud and obnoxious fight between Rory and Lorelai through the bathroom door about whether Lorelai was using all the hot water or not. It all ended in Lai siding with Rory and standing in the downstairs bathroom, turning the water on and off at Rory's holler. Luke simply sat in the kitchen listening to the madness with a smile on his lips but a frown on his forehead. When the girls had finally run their mum out of the shower, Rory jumped in quickly, making Lai guard all the downstairs taps which proved to be a good deal to make as the first thing Lorelai did when she was dressed enough to roam the house (meaning a bra and jeans with her top in hand) was go straight for the kitchen sink.

Rory got dressed and they all huddled around the kitchen table with whatever it was the were doing while the others were getting ready. Lorelai had her laptop out, Lai had her copy of Fifty Shades Freed in her hands (much to Luke's chagrin), Rory was sitting with a copy of the New York Times, and Luke was looking unhappily from Lai's book to the sports page. "Should you be reading that?" he asked the teen who simply shrugged and kept reading. "Lorelai, should she be reading that?" Lorelai shrugged as well, getting back to Facebooking. "Rory, should she be reading that?" he asked his step daughter.

Rory was the only one who actually looked up from what they were doing. She read the cover and realized it was the last book. "She's already read the other two. It's the last one and she's almost finished. How much more harm can two hundred pages do?!"

The man still stared a hole through the cover, "So that's a no, or a yes?" he clarified.

The older daughter was about to tell Luke that yes, she could read it when Lorelai piped up from her seat, "Lai, put the book away until your Dad isn't around. He'll have a coronary if you leave it open on the table."

The teenage girl huffed and closed the book around her thumb as she glared at Lorelai's head. "I'm not five years old, I know how baby's get here, and news flash-you both have bio kids, and I know you're still doing the dirty." Lorelai looked at Lailah with a light glare while Luke just went bright red.

"Not. Appropriate. Away." Lailah knew that when Lorelai started talking in one word sentences with that tone, then she'd pushed it just a bit too far. She huffed and went into her bedroom to put her book away, coming downstairs she blew out a breath on the stairs, learning quickly to control her anger.

With Joe she had been able to ignore him most of the time when he was there, though he rarely ever was. That meant that although it was rough, it was easy at home as she was alone most of the time which meant there wasn't much to be angry at, and with Joe she was far too scared of him beating her to death to get angry. Here though, she needed to adjust to living with three other people and having to put up with a tight nit community of people who knew everything about everyone. She came around the corner and into the kitchen where she leant against the back of Lorelai's chair and wrapped her arms around her mum's shoulders. "Sorry." She said with her head resting next to Lorelai's.

"That's okay baby." Lorelai smiled, kissing Lai's cheek and rubbing her arm.

"So," Lailah started, straightening up, "back to my earlier question; what are we doing today?" she asked slightly impatiently as she now had nothing to do.

Everyone looked as if they were mulling over ideas when finally Luke just threw up his hands and then slapped them back on his thighs at the ridiculousness of women trying to plan almost anything. "Why not go and get the stuff for Lai's room? You were saying that you wanna do it this week anyway." He said as he started to stand.

Lailah's eyes got wide and she started bouncing on her toes with her hands on Lorelai's shoulders. "Ooh, can we?" she said excitedly, "Please mummy, pleeeaaaassseeee?"

Lorelai shrugged and stood up, "Sure, why not?" she was making her way to get her handbag, tossing the car keys over to Luke. "You drive."

The four of them climbed into the car with Lai and Rory in the backseat. They both went to buckle their belts at the same time, accidentally knocking each other's hands, and neither could buckle their belts. It was on for young and old. Rory and Lailah started battling it out to get their belt buckled first, ending up in a slapping fight. Luke groaned and simply started backing out of the driveway. "We get a ticket for you not having your belt on and you'll work in the diner to pay it off. Both girls looked at each other and Rory let Lai buckle her belt first before buckling her own quickly. "So where are we going?" Luke asked Lorelai as he headed towards the highway, knowing that no matter what they were going to Hartford.

"Head for the mall." She instructed him and laughed at his groan.

The ride was quiet as Lai was on her phone, checking facebook to see what was happening with her friends in Australia. Steph had just gotten an A on her History test, Lissa beat the level she'd been stuck on for a month, Tori was out driving and listening to her younger sister whine about her newest boyfriend, and oddly enough she had friend requests from Isabella, Nikole, and Grace. She was shocked but figured that maybe she could rub her new life in their faces. She accepted.

They arrived at the mall and Lorelai got out first, releasing the seat for the girls to get out. Lai stumbled a bit as her foot got caught on the seat and she only just caught herself on the door and got out just to watch Rory and Lorelai giggle at her clumsiness. The four of them went into the mall and Lai was taken aback by the size of the place. There weren't as many stores as the shopping centre in Australia, but the stores were bigger and had more stock. "Where to first?" Luke asked, already looking like he wanted to get out of there.

"Maybe the hardware store? It's just outside then we can get paint so we know what colour we need to get everything else." Lorelai suggested quite logically and everyone agreed.

The hardware store was pretty packet and they shuffled their way to the wall of paint samples and Lai decided on a light aqua blue colour for a feature wall and the rest in an off white. While they were there they brought a tin of blackboard paint so that she could paint the doors of her inbuilt wardrobe. They left, putting the paint in the car before going into the store.

They went into the first store which had a lot of funky, young furniture. They wandered around for a bit before Lailah gasped and took off running, leaving her family just watching wide eyed as she ran through the store, starting to squeal as she drew nearer to the object of her affection. The teenager eagerly jumped onto the bed before her while Lorelai and Rory cracked up finally noticing what it was she'd become so excited about. Luke simply ran his hand over his face while embarrassedly looking at his shoes.

The bed was clearly made for a toddler as it was in the shape of a carriage that looked like something straight out of Cinderella with all of its pumpkin-like-ness. The trio made their way to Lailah as she stayed on her side, staring at them excitedly. "Lai, you have a bed." Lorelai observed the way her daughter's knees and feet hung off the end of the bed. "One that's made for adults, may I add."

"Yeah, but it's not shaped like a carriage. I could be a princess." She said with puppy dog eyes and a pouted bottom lip.

Luke let out a massive groan and glared between Rory and Lorelai. "When could you possibly have found time to teach her the pout?"

The two women looked between each other, both looking to cover their asses with excuses. "Mom must have done it on the plane." Rory suggested with a shrug of innocence.

"I think Rory did it while we were both at work the other day."

"Mom could have had time when they were sleeping after they got here."

"I remember looking in the rear view mirror the other night, and I'm pretty sure I saw a protruding bottom lip on you know who." Lorelai said while pointing a finger in Rory's direction and hiding her face with her other hand.

"Or I could have simply watched how well it works on Dad when you two use it." Lailah suggested, both trying out the term 'Dad' on Luke, and defending her sister and mum. Luke gave Lailah an exasperated look and she simply pouted back at him. "Daddy... please?" she begged, rolling onto her back and spreading out.

The man would have seriously considered buying it for his new pouting daughter whose eyes were turning out to be an even bigger weakness than he'd ever considered them becoming if not for the bed being so small. "No. You're a big enough princess as it is. Don't think I didn't see how much you brought in Australia." He went over to her and pulled Lailah up and off the bed by her arm.

The three continued through the room, looking at random pieces here and there, every so often stopping to look at something more thoroughly. So far Lailah had picked up a couple of funky comic book style things such as a picture of a girl holding her finger to her lips, a shelf to put up on her wall that was simply red with a 'the Flash's sign on the top, a Wonderwoman quilt cover for her double bed, a couple of throw pillows with 'BAM' and 'CRASH' written on them, and finally a huge picture to stick in the bookshelf/sitting area Luke promised to build her. The picture was a huge square which she planned to cut to shape. It had all the original superheroes but with their faces cut out so you can stick your own photos in there.

Her room was coming together pretty well in her eyes but Lorelai insisted that she needed something else. They kept walking through the home store until Lorelai pulled Lai aside to a kid's display which the teenager frowned at and gave both her sister and dad a look that said something along the lines of _"What the hell?" _but followed her mum dutifully. Eventually she understood what was happening as they came across a wall with a massive bookshelf that held different colours of every letter from A to Z. "So, do you think just Lailah, or Lai?" Lorelai asked as she looked through the letters piled up, pulling down reds and yellows as she had already planned to put them on the blue wall and the superhero stuff seemed to strongly feature blue, yellow, and red as the main colours.

The girl looked thoughtful for a moment before sweetly asking, "Can I get Lailah Gilmore-Danes?"

Luke and Lorelai looked between each other and Lorelai gave a sweet smile, about to agree until she saw the price of the letters. They were three dollars each which would really add up in the end. "What about Lai Gilmore?" Lailah shook her head sadly, knowing she wanted her new surname on her wall. Lorelai looked to Luke as they had a silent conversation. "Lailah Danes?" she offered to which the teen once again shook her head. "What do you want to get then? You can't get it all."

Lailah milled over the question for a minute, just looking at the letters. She noticed that the capitals were three dollars each, and the lower case letters were only two dollars. On the end there were little letters and such for babies. "How about Gilmore-Danes Jr. ?" she asked and then went on to explain about the cost of the lower case letters, and that the 'Jr' was only two dollars as well as it was counted as one. Lorelai and Luke agreed to it, smiling proudly at their little 'Gilmore-Danes Jr.' "Of course, I'll change it when you have a baby though, 'cause I won't be the junior anymore."

Lorelai and Luke looked between each other sadly and Luke put his arm around Lorelai as she leant into him. "Lai, we can't have any more kids. We missed our primes." The teen frowned sadly and went to hug her parents. "So I guess that'll be stuck with that on your wall forever." Lorelai joked, squeezing Lailah's cheeks between her fingers which caused the girl to squirm. "Our wittle baby girl." She teased in a baby voice.

"Yeah, and we didn't even have to change any diapers." Luke said with a thumbs up. Lailah simply gave her dad a push in his side and they made their way to the check out.

They had all of their purchases spread out between them as they made their way to the exit before Luke stopped them all, saying he wanted to go into the sports store for a minute. The girls followed him in and to the back wall where the jerseys were hanging in all different sizes, styles, and for every team of every sport you could possibly imagine. Lai noticed with a laugh that the Red Sox and Yankees jerseys were hug on completely different sides of the racks.

Luke walked right to the racks where the Red Sox jerseys were hung and pulled down a size six ladies one with the number 28 on the back. "Here, go try this on." He said pushing it in Lailah's direction. She grunted and took it. Next he pulled down a size eight with the number 16 on the back and handed it to Lorelai to which she went to the changing rooms after Lailah. Rory was handed a size eight with the number 5 on it.

The three girls put on their jerseys and met up out in the main section, joking and posing in weird positions, all watching in the mirror. They were all pulling really weird, overly dramatic poses with their tops pulled up and held tightly mid stomach when Lorelai noticed something in the mirror, and wondered how she never noticed it before. She'd seen Lai's mid drift many times before. Earlier that day for instance, after Lai had gone running and she'd made a point to check Lai's exposed skin when she'd seen the bruise from Joe, so how did she miss _this_?

Lorelai snapped out of the pose and pulled the left hip of Lai's jeans down a bit so she could check out her new discovery. "What's this?" Lorelai asked, pointing to the black and gawking at her teenage daughter.

Lailah looked down at the word 'Serendipity' scrawled across her hip bone, covering over a scar that only she knew was there. "Lai, where the hell did you get this?" she asked before shaking her head and staring more intensely at it, "_How_ the hell did you get this?"

The girl watched her mum and sister staring and poking at her tattoo. "I just went into a tattoo parlour with Steph one night and got it."

"Why?" Lorelai asked simply.

The teenager shrugged and fingered the hidden scar. "I wanted to hide my scar and figured that Serendipity was the perfect way to interpret it."

"Why?" Rory asked, copying her mother earlier.

"I got stabbed. Missed one of my main arteries by a couple millimetres and it was only because of a bone chip I had floating around from when Kim dropped me when I was a baby. I figure a coincidence like that doesn't come around too often. It was all pretty serendipitous in my mind." Lailah pulled her top into place for an extra piece of cover. "The hospital has that doctor patient confidentiality thing, and they couldn't prove that I didn't fall over like I said I did so they stitched me up and sent me home. I basically had to make my scar disappear before the social workers came poking around so they wouldn't make me move. I basically removed all knives from the house except for the plastic butter knives I kept in the draw with the other cutlery."

After Lailah finished speaking, Lorelai put her hand out and rested it on her daughters hip where the tattoo sat just under the band of her hipster jeans. "Joe, he did this?" she asked with teary eyes.

Lailah nodded with a passive look on her face, already having come to terms with what had happened. "Yeah, when I was fifteen. Just after my birthday. He got pretty drunk and I had to break the news to him that we didn't have any steak and all the stores were closed. It got pretty ugly, as you can imagine." She finished with a quirked mouth and a roll of her eyes.

"Oh God." Rory breathed with a sad look on her face.

Lorelai watched her oldest daughter finally realize how bad Lailah's life had been, and chuckled under her breath softly when Rory enthusiastically hugged her little sister. "Okay, let's all get changed and head home. I feel like a Luke's cheeseburger and fries."

The trio went back into the main area to find Luke with a new water bottle, a couple of ladies running tank tops, and a pair of Skins. The girls looked at him a little confused. He shrugged with his arms full and gave a half smile with the corner of his mouth. "Track?" he asked, to which Lailah cracked up and the other two women followed suit.

"Let's just hop those skins aren't too low cut or Luke will blow his lid." Rory said into Lailah's ear, clearly referring to Lailah's tattoo/scar.

**So the chick reading and reviewing as a guest under 'MadInSalem' keeps getting my quotes which I just... wow, great coz it means I'm not psychotic and people actually understand my random madness, though it does mean I'm forever having to pull crap out of my muddled up brain so, 'MadInSalem' PM me if you want me to do any of the stuff I listed before, otherwise just enjoy reading and answering my quotes, you make me slightly less insane in your own inadvertent way. ;)**

"**Don't make me ban high waisted shorts again..."  
"No! That was the worst week of my life!"- Just want the name of the show. I had a harder one written in but changed my mind. Might use it in the next chapter if this one gets figured out too easily. ;) gotta keep you guys on your toes. :P Bec xx**


	24. LilyG

LilyG: well then, 100th reviewer, seems as if you deserve a reward! :D I love hearing feedback from my readers and you've inadvertantly cracked a double whammy... 100th reviewer for this story, and 1st reviewer for this chapter. :D how does a featuring role in the next chapter sound?

Your sincerely, the girl who is still up at 4am because I'm both a commited writer (with mild insomnia) and the owner of a fat grey cat who thinks she owns half my double bed.

Ps. I'm gonna need a name and possibly something you're known for if you'd like to feature. :)


	25. Chapter 25

**Okay everyone. This chapter is wholly dedicated to Jessica Thompson who is now my all time favourite reader! She took the time to e-mail me and totally made my day. **** I promised her that I would write a chapter when I got home, so when I walked in the door at 11pm, I didn't think I would do it and then suddenly found a second wind at 1:30am. So here it is, complete (though not checked over-so please excuse any mistakes as I would check it if I weren't almost asleep) and I'm relatively happy with it-though I would like it to be slightly longer. Signing off at 4:26am, about to fall asleep on top of my laptop with my lamp and TV on. **

Lorelai went upstairs later that night to find Lailah sitting on her bed, looking out her window with her book closed next to her, seemingly thinking hard about something. Lorelai leant against the door frame, just watching Lailah obliviously staring at the setting sun for a while before breaking the silence and making her presence known to the teen. "Room looks good so far."

They had decided that they would paint later that week but set everything else up as it would be when they were finished. Lailah loved how it all looked, and immediately started hanging out in there instead of always being around the family. It was a little odd that she'd suddenly changed it up as she had but Lorelai just reassured the others that Lai could be like that, and they all went their separate ways to do their own things. Lorelai was only up to check on the teen as she'd not come down once in hours. "Yeah, I love it." Lailah replied none too enthusiastically with a small smile.

The woman pushed off of the doorway and stepped into the room, heading towards Lailah's bed. "What's wrong gorgeous?" she asked, sitting on the bed and pushing a piece of hair out of Lailah's face.

"Why me?" she asked, playing with her book and not looking at Lorelai.

The frown was etched deep into Lorelai's brow as she looked at Lailah, slightly taken aback by the question. "What?"

Lailah finally looked up at Lorelai, searching her eyes. "You can't have kids anymore, so why me? Why adopt a damaged teenager and not a baby? What made you choose me?" her eyes weren't emotional in the slightest, simply seeking out an answer to the question she'd been beating herself up with for days now.

Lorelai didn't really know what to say as her mouth opened and closed, looking for an answer in the messes of words bouncing around in her mind. Finally she looked Lailah dead in the eye and said with resolve, "Because you're mine. We love you, all of us. You are so special to this whole family and after talking to you all that time we just knew we wouldn't be whole without you."

The teen looked down at her lap for a moment then looked back up at Lorelai while she shuffled in her spot uncomfortably, "Yeah, but you could raise a baby, have it turn out like you. A baby would never be as fucked up as me."

Lailah's Mum's arms went around the girl before the thought even got to run through her mind properly. "Don't even let your mind go there, Lai. You're the only person we want to add to our family right now." Lailah nodded against Lorelai's chest, her nose taking in the scent that was only something Lorelai could smell like; Home. "What you reading?" the woman asked, her arms still around Lailah as they sat back against the headboard of the queen sized bed. Lailah held up the book to show Lorelai the cover, "The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight?"

"Yeah, it's really good."

"What's it about?" Lorelai asked while she smoothed her hand over Lailah's curly hair, playing with the bottoms which naturally turned into ringlets.

Lailah shifted so that she was leaning on Lorelai more and sighed at the feel of her hair being played with. She'd always loved it when her grandma would tuck her in and play with her hair or rub her back as she fell to sleep. "It's about this girl and this guy who meet at the airport when they're both going to England, and basically it's just set in a twenty-four hour period where they get to know each other and fall in love. It's really good."

Lailah smiled and opened the book again, playing with the edges as she only got to read the next sentence before Lorelai pulled the book from her hands and started turning it over, playing with the corners a bit herself before asking Lailah, " How long you had this one? it's pretty ratty."

The teen shrugged her shoulders and grabbed the book back, reopening it to where she was up to. "I haven't had it all that long, just read it a lot. It's really good, maybe you can read it when I'm done this time." She suggested.

"Sure, I need something good to read."

"Okay, well I'll bring it to you in like an hour."

Lorelai looked at the book which was still opened and only around a hundred pages in, with around three hundred left. "You're worse than Rory." Lailah nodded frantically, drawing a small laugh from Lorelai. "Anyhow, put that away. Dinner time."

The brown eyed girl shook her head with a pout while Lorelai pulled at her hand. Finally Lai pulled her hand out of Lorelai's grasp, "No, I'm not hungry. My tummy hurts." She put her now free hand to her stomach.

Lorelai's eyebrows furrowed and she looked down at Lailah, trying to decide whether she was just fibbing to get out of going down stairs and having to stop her book. When she saw the frown on her daughters face and the honest pain in the way she was holding her stomach, remembering back to how she'd been mysteriously holed up in her room all afternoon. "How long it been hurting?"

"Since like lunch time. I think I pulled something while I was running. I'm totally gonna take what dad said into consideration next time I'm stretching. Not feeling too pretty right about now."

Lorelai held her frown in place but appeased Lailah, leaving the girl laying down as she made her way to the door. "Fine, but I'll be back later to check on you."

Lorelai left the room and Lailah went back to reading, happily laying on her bed with her book. It was only when she finished an hour and a half later that she really felt. She pushed through the pain and picked up The Boy Who Sneaks in my Bedroom Window from her bookshelf, replacing it with the Statistical Probability and going back to her bed. Seeing as the light was fading from the sky, she turned on the two lights by her bed, painfully changed into a pair of summer pyjamas and slipped under the covers, curling up on her side and starting in on her new book.

Lorelai checked in silently from the doorway every hour, finally going to bed four hours after dinner, completely drained and ready to crash out for a solid eight hours, if not more.

Lailah was up for those four hours, trying to stay in the same position as not to irritate her side. Eventually she finished her book and closed it, simply dropping in onto the floor, not caring how it landed so long as she didn't have to move. Her lamp was just in reach which she was unbelievably grateful for, and she reached up, biting back a yelp of pain as she switched it off, laying her head as comfortably on her pillow as she could and closed her eyes, hoping for sleep to come.

At two am Lailah was still awake, sweating and crying because of the horrible pain in her stomach. She had figured earlier that she had simply pulled a muscle and when the pain only deepened and started to hurt all the time, she thought that maybe she was getting her period super early. Though when it kept her up and she had it both aching and shooting pain through her entire torso, she knew that there was probably something wrong. A particularly sharp pain shot through her and she started sobbing, holding her stomach as securely as she could without hurting herself even more. After laying though another half hour of the pain she finally gave in and resigned herself to the fact that this was serious. "MUM!" she screamed, the pain evident in her voice. "MUM! HELP!" she started sobbing and holding herself again, the screaming having jolted her and caused her more pain.

Lorelai burst into the room, slightly out of breath after running as fast as her legs would carry her, Luke tailing her as fast as he could go while behind her. "Lai, what is it?" Lorelai asked, jogging around to face her daughter, kneeling on the floor in front of her. Luke came to stand behind her, acting dutifully as the father and partner he is.

"It... it hurts Mummy. Please make it stop." Logically, she knew that Lorelai couldn't just magically make her body stop hurting, though that didn't stop the little girl in her from crying out for the comfort she'd always wanted.

Lorelai looked up at Luke worriedly, pulling down the covers to inspect Lailah. The teen was covered in sweat and clutching at her stomach. "Your belly?" she asked, trying to pull Lailah's hands from where they were pulling at her tank top.

Lailah looked at her mum with wide eyes, full of pain. "No, no, don't make me move!"

"Just let me look, baby. I'm trying to help." Lailah finally gave in and Lorelai pulled her hands away, tugging her tank top up to just under the girl's chest as to keep the girls modesty in front of Luke. Her stomach looked fine, maybe a little more bloated than normal but then again that could just be from her laying down. "Where does it hurt?" she asked tenderly.

"My tummy." Lailah moved to cover her stomach with her hands again.

Lorelai pulled Lailah's hands away from her damp skin, "What side?"

Lailah pointed to her right side, sobbing more heavily when Lorelai nudged her onto her back. "Here."

"Shit." Luke cursed, pushing past Lorelai and standing by Lailah's side with a worried look on his face which Lorelai knew meant bad news. "Okay, Lai, this is probably gonna hurt but I need to check, alright." Lailah shook her head with wide eyes, silently pleading with him not to do it. Lorelai grabbed the girls hand and smoothed her hair back.

Luke pressed down lightly but still enough to be felt on the space just below Lailah's belly button and just above her pubic bone on the right side, holding his breath as Lailah cried out, gripping Lorelai's hand tighter. He let go and the teen screamed at the top of her lungs, the note being broken by a sob half way through. "STOP!" she screamed.

"Okay, let's go." Luke said, "Lorelai, go tell Rory we're going to the hospital and ask to borrow her car. Get our stuff from downstairs and I'll get Lai's stuff. We need to go, NOW!" they both ran off in opposite directions, meeting back at Lailah's bedside, both still in their pyjamas with their jackets on and pockets full of all things necessary. Luke handed Lorelai a jacket and sweatpants out to Lorelai for Lailah, her ugg boots in his hands ready to go on her feet.

Together, Lorelai and Luke pulled back the blanket and gently slipped on Lailah's ugg boots as not to jostle her too much. Rory was leaning against the doorway, watching concernedly while her little sister was prepped to go to the hospital. Luke warned Lailah to grit her teeth for a minute and he quickly gathered her into his arms as gently as he could. On the way out Lorelai was stopped by Rory who handed her the keys to her prius and a patchwork blanket that Lorelai had made for her when she was a baby. "We'll call when we know more. Love you." Lorelai kissed her eldest daughter on the forehead and ran downstairs after Luke and Lailah.

When she got to the car Luke instructed her to sit in the back seat with Lailah and she didn't need to be told twice. She climbed into the seat and put her daughters head on her lap, handing the keys to Luke and slinging the blanket over the whimpering teen. They drove to the hospital with Lailah crying out in pain at every jolt and bump that the car took. When they finally got there, Luke pulled her out, making sure that her right side was facing out so that the doctors could get to it. Lorelai was glad that Luke had been through this before as she hadn't and she wasn't too sure how she would have coped if he hadn't of jumped into hero mode.

The emergency room was full to the brim and Lorelai pushed through the crowd, clearing a path for Luke to carry their daughter through to the desk. Lorelai bounded up to the counter and beat against it until the woman looked up, "My daughter, it's her stomach..."

Lorelai was cut off by Luke as he came up directly behind her, "It's appendicitis. My other daughter had it."

The nurse's eyes went wide and she called something into the office behind her. The middle aged woman ran out of the door next to the office window and examined Lailah, the teen still crying and calling out to Lorelai when the nurse poked at her side. "Alright, we need to get her into surgery right away. It feels as if her appendix is about to burst." Almost as if it was cued, a crew of nurses in scrubs came out with a gurney and loaded Lailah onto it from Luke's arms which elicited another cry from the girl at being removed from her parent's arms and presence.

"It's okay baby. We'll be waiting right here, I swear, we aren't going anywhere. I love you!" Lorelai had been jogging alongside the gurney, holding her daughter's hand before she was pushed through a set of doors that she was instructed she couldn't go through. She turned to Luke with a slightly distraught look on her face, to find him looking concernedly at the doors their daughter had just been taken through.

"It will be okay." Luke comforted Lorelai, putting his arm around her and guiding her to the waiting room closest to the doors with a sign saying that it is the surgery waiting room. Lorelai simply nodded and leant on Luke's shoulder, simply waiting for Lailah to be brought out.

An hour and a half later the doors opened and a man in blue scrubs came out with small drops of blood on his top, and a mask around his neck. "Family of Lailah Gilmore-Danes?" he asked as he approached the couple, one hand held out to Luke after they nodded. "Dr Charles-Stamford."

"How is she?" Lorelai asked, hugging Lailah's jacket to her and clutching at Luke's arm as they stood.

The doctor nodded with a small smile on his face. "She is absolutely fine. We got in just in time. Her appendix was about to burst when we got to it. You are very lucky that you got her in when you did." Lorelai sighed with a hand held to her chest and a small smile on his lips. The doctor rubbed her arm for a second and then withdrew his hand to clasp both in front of him. "We removed her appendix with a keyhole surgery, which usually would only leave small scars but due to the size of her appendix when we got to it, there was some taring to one of the incisions which will take a little longer to heal and will leave a larger scar, though I think the real point here is that we got to it just in time. You have a healthy and may I say; very beautiful daughter." The doctor turned to depart and Luke and Lorelai wrapped each other in their arms. "Oh, and she should be awake in a couple of minutes. You can go right ahead and see her. Room 351."

The couple nodded, collecting their stuff and rushing to their daughter's room. They entered the stark white room where there was a shock of brown hair spread out on the pillow with the white blankets turned down and an ugly hospital gown wrapped around her body. They could see her pyjamas in a plastic bag on the bedside table next to her. Lorelai laid the blanket across Lailah and sat. Once she was comfortable in the ugly hospital chair beside the bed, she reached for Lailah's pyjamas. She pulled them out of the bag, and laid them across her lap.

Lorelai's mouth gaped open and se glared at the clothing. The top was completely split up the middle and the shorts were cut down both sides. Left in the bag was Lailah's cut knickers. "I spent fifty dollars on these two weeks ago. She was already knocked out, couldn't they just take them off?" Lorelai said, holding up the top and bottoms, demonstrating that they were ruined by letting the pieces drop.

"You paid fifty dollars for a tank top and shorts?" he asked, appalled at the cost of such small pieces of fabric.

Lorelai shrugged and put the clothing back in the bag and reminded herself to send Luke home to get more clothes for Lai in the morning. "They're from Paul Frank, and Lai wanted them. You've seen the puppy dog eyes."

Luke smiled a little in Lailah's direction before snapping his head back to Lorelai, "Yeah, I know the puppy eyes. I still wouldn't spend that much on a pair of pyjamas though."

There was a small, weak laugh from the bed and both sets of eyes snapped to Lailah as she woke up, "We'll see. I'm gonna need a new set after this anyhow." Luke and Lorelai laughed before standing and walking to Lailah where they both grabbed a hand from opposite sides of the bed.

"Babe, we'll buy you anything after the scare we just had." The blue eyed woman said with moist eyes as she looked in the tired eyes of her brown eyed daughter.

Lailah yawned and pulled her hand up to cover her mouth, though she stopped when a stinging pain shot through her, which Lorelai reminded her were the stitches from the surgery. "Maybe I'll think about it while I sleep." The teen suggested and closed her eyes, both hands still clasped in her parents with one of Lorelai's hands in her hair, and one of Luke's on her shoulder.

She'd never felt safer or more at home than she did as she drifted off, not hearing Lorelai say, "Yeah, baby. You sleep and we'll watch over you."

**Just a small ending note from your favourite zombie writer. ;) **

**Quote inspired by the movie I'm watching right now (Hint there already):**

"**Oh, wow, I forgot you're fifteen." –said by Jennifer Aniston... now, what is the movie?**


	26. Chapter 26

**Okay, so right now I'm doing something I've never done before! I'm writing the A/N before I write the update! Basically the only reason I'm doing it is because I wanna let you all know what's happening with me right now. So, I'm sitting in my bedroom at 11:17 with a hot chocolate, in my onesie, with my retarded cat Izzy (whom has a bucket on her head), unhappily gritting my teeth to write this update. I've just gotten through with reading a couple of my Once Upon a Time stories I'm starting to write and now my head is in those which is frustrating... oh, look, just got an e-mail from Jessica Thompson! Hey there! ;) ... anybloodwhore (you'd get that if you read Vampire Academy) like I said, I just wanted to let you know how disgruntled I am right now. Moving on...**

Lailah left the hospital a day after her surgery with an all clear from her doctors, only to return two days later with a frantic Lorelai after popping her stitches. The nurse who re-stitched the teen had reassured Lailah's crazed mum that there was nothing to be worried about, and that stitches were easily popped out, and just as easily fixed. They left the hospital yet again with the all clear, just to return that night with Lailah sporting a swollen stomach and yet another stomach ache. The nurse had told them to wait as it wasn't serious enough to push her through, so Lorelai called Luke to let him know that it wasn't anything serious and he didn't need to come down as they had previously organised he would if it was bad enough. After waiting for three hours, Lailah went to the bathroom, and returned with wide eyes, telling Lorelai that her stomach had swollen even further. The nurse had taken a look at the girl's bloated belly and admitted her straight away, calling in Lai's original doctor whom told them that she had gotten an infection and that they would need to keep her for a while until it cleared.

So that's where Lailah was two weeks later, still waiting for the infection to clear. The swelling had gone down the day after they started pumping her full of drugs, only for her stitches to pop and reveal the uglier side of the infection; puss. Her incisions were oozing which totally grossed her out and she had no trouble sleeping through the bulk it, what with the five different bags they had hung by her bed which were putting different antibiotics and such into her system. Now all that was left of the infection was her lousy feeling body. She could clearly see that she had bags under her eyes from the effects of the drugs. They had warned Lorelai before she signed the permission slips that the different medications had a bad habit of fighting with each other for supreme reign over the patient's system, but that once it all evened out Lailah would feel as good as new. What they didn't mention was that it would take a week to straighten out, and that she'd feel like the uglier part of death for that week and that it would take an extra week to ween the teen off of the medications.

As she sat reading a magazine that Lorelai had left behind last night when she left, the teen was down to only one hanging bag which she knew was a general antibiotic to counteract the others and straighten out her stem while still hydrating her. All of the incisions had started healing much nicer and there was really no infection left, simply her body trying to return to its old self. After an hour of repeatedly flicking through the magazine, Lai was well and truly bored. In her room there was only her bed, a bedside table, a bathroom, and two chairs, and she wished for the first time that Emily and Richard hadn't insisted on a single room for their new granddaughter as it made her feel like she was in quarantine, which she wasn't, and the doctors had encouraged visitors as they didn't want her body to forget what the elements brought with them, such as pollens and dirt's.

Climbing out of her bed, the teen made her way to the door, dragging her iv pole with her. The hallway wasn't anywhere near as mad as the hospitals back in Australia had been the few times she'd been in them, and she silently thanked whoever decided to put in more than one nurse station along the long expanse of walk space as it made the walk on her tired legs much easier. She made her way over to the station and found her usual daytime nurse, Remy there. "Hey, Rem." She greeted with a smile at the brunette. _**(Sorry, couldn't pass up the opportunity! I've just been watching House!)**_

Remy gave a small smile back, looking up from her paperwork to clap her grey eyes with the brown ones of the teenager before her. "How you doing today Lai?" she asked while standing and walking around the desk.

"I'm alright. Bored out of my mind though! Whoever made those single rooms clearly wasn't a people person."

The grey eyed woman laughed at the frustrated look the teen had on her face. "Probably not. Can I just check your stitches super quick? I have to do it anyway, why not now?" she had her hands on the base of Lailah's tight t-shirt and pulled it up just enough to expose the three small spots with stitches in them. Remy poked around for a moment before dropping Lailah's t-shirt back into place over her baggy grey trackies. "Looks good."

As Remy was writing down a couple of notes in Lailah's file, the teen leant her hip gently against the desk and watched with confusion as a simply 'it's all good' turned out to be a dot here, a line there, put a five on this line, and write in crazy cursive that nobody can read in this box when translated into her file. "What is there to do in this place?" she asked.

Remy looked up after signing the last indicated place in Lailah's file with a small twist of her lips. There really wasn't much for a teenager to do in the children's ward which some idiot had place Lailah in, even though she was almost an adult. "There really isn't anything here for you to do..." Remy trailed off, looking thoughtful for a moment, and then pulled her phone out, sending a text message quickly while Lailah waited patiently. A moment later the woman's phone rang and she picked up, having a short, muffled conversation behind one of the dividers before returning with a smile. "I have something! But first I wanna hear that I'm your favourite nurse ever!"

Lailah gave a small laugh and put her hand over Remy's on the desks messy surface. "Rem, you are the best, most stupendous, completely extraordinary nurse I have ever encountered in my seventeen years of existence!" Remy laughed and gestured for Lailah to make her way to the wheelchair next to the desk. Lailah sat down and Remy clipped her IV pole to the chair so that Lailah could unclip it and walk around if she so chose to.

The teen figured they were going to head down the hall to the doctors lounge or something but Remy wheeled her to the elevator. "So, I had to pull a couple of strings but when we get up there you just tell them Remy sent you and you'll be alright to hang out."

"Where are we going?"

Remy looked confused for a minute, clearly not remembering that she'd not told Lai that fact yet. "Oh, up to the Oncology ward. My friend Wilson works up there and he said that because you're the only teen on the ward at the moment that you could go up there with the cancer kids till you wanna come back down. I'm actually pretty jealous of the set up they have there. There's a bunch of gaming consoles, a couple TVs, probably the biggest DVD collection I've ever seen, and like so much other stuff I'm not surprised no one ever wants to go back to their rooms."

The brown eyed girl looked nervous for a minute before looking at the woman standing next to her in the rising elevator, "You sure it's okay for me to go up there? I mean I just had an infection."

"Yeah, it's alright. Your infection would really only affect someone else if they had an open wound and you smothered them with puss. You're cool to do whatever." Remy waggled her fingers at Lailah when she mentioned the puss as the teen had made that gesture at her stomach when it had first appeared, and the teen's two main nurses, Remy and Jen, paid her out all the time for it.

"Cool." Lailah simply muttered as the elevator came to a stop at the sixth floor and Remy pushed her out. She was wheeled through a set of double doors and Remy turned to the right, pushing her down an empty hallway, making odd noises and jumping up onto the back of the wheelchair more than once to ride it down the passage. It was moments like this that Lailah remembered that the woman was so young. They reached a huge, open room with everything Remy had described and walls painted bright colours.

Her chair was directed over to a table where two girls around her age were sitting and chatting over a table-sized piece of paper that they seemed to have covered in little doodles. "Hey girls, mind if I leave my little loner here?" Remy joked, bumping her hip against Lailah 's shoulder while she leant on the back of one of the girl's chairs. Lailah simply mock-glared at the woman, backhanding her stomach as the girl's watched their antics.

The grey beanie clad girl with green eyes looked up and smiled with a little giggle. "Sure Rem." Remy smiled at her and Remy turned to leave, waving at them all until she was out of the room. Once Remy had left the room, the girl held out her hand to Lailah who clasped it with her own, "I'm Jess." She greeted.

Lai nodded with a smile, gently shaking the girl's hand. "Lailah . I'm not really a loner, just the only teen up on the kid's ward."

"Don't worry, we know Remy tends to exaggerate. She's been here for years. She was one of my first nurses when I moved from Chicago."

Lailah was mid laugh when she realized how rude she was being and coughed the rest down, holding her hand out to the girl with the rainbow beanie on her head and brown eyes like her own but darker. "Hey, I'm Lailah."

The girl clasped her hand with a smile, clearly having just watched the exchange between Jess and her, "Yeah, I figured. I'm Lily."

All three teens settled into a comfortable silence where Lailah took the opportunity to grab a purple pen from the tub, doodling a small sketch of Remy standing on the back of a wheelchair with fire shooting from the wheels and her hair flying behind her. Jess seemed to notice as she leant over to inspect it while Lailah finished colouring in the flames with the red marker Lily had been using. "Wow, that's so cool! I wish I could draw like that."

Lailah blushed at the compliment and leant over to put the red back in the tub, getting her IV line caught on the back of the wheelchair in the process and hissing out in pain as it tugged at the needle. Lily leant over to the sticky tape dispenser and tore of three pieces, reaching over and taping the line to Lailah's arm at her forearm, elbow, and bicep. "Happens all the time. Don't worry, the things are almost impossible to rip out, trust me, I've tried a few times."

"Thanks." She said to Lily before spinning to face Jess. "It's not really that hard. I can only do little cartoons, nothing too detailed but then again everyone has different talents."

Jess nodded while drawing a witches hat on the paper in green _**(Jess! It's a Wicked reference! How good am i!)**_. "You can draw, and Lily can sing. I can't really do anything all that well."

Lily's mouth gaped at her friend and Lailah looked between the two, thinking that Lily was upset Jess had said she can sing well but was clearly mistaken as Lily inadvertently corrected her thoughts when she spoke. "Are you kidding me right now?" she cried out, making Jess look up with wide eyes. "You make the best cakes ever!"

"No I don't." Jess argued with a blush spreading over her cheeks.

"Yes you do." Lily countered.

"No. I don't." Jess said more forcefully.

"Yes. You do!" Lily was leaning over the table when her head snapped to a nurse across the room, "Grace! Jess doesn't think she can bake!" it was called louder than necessary but did the job and the nurse spun around, calling back that Jess could bake better than anyone she knew. "Told you!" Lily slapped a hand down on the table and leant back in her seat dramatically which made Lailah laugh quietly into her hand.

Jess stopped colouring in the green hat she was working on and looked up at Lily with challenging eyes and an eyebrow cocked the way Lailah had always wanted to learn to do, "Whatever."

"Like those cupcakes you did for the Christmas party. I'm pretty sure my mom still has one of the tree ones in the fridge at home."

It seemed the original discussion was dropped as Jess laughed at her friend, "Your mom has it still? Isn't it ruined yet?"

Lily shook her head, pulling her beanie down tighter as the gesture made it slip up some on her bald head. "Nope. It looks exactly the same as it did the day you made it. I think she probably covered it in hairspray like they do for the food in ads but still."

The green eyed girl looked as if she couldn't believe it. "And Tom hasn't gotten to it yet?"

"Oh, did I not mention the bite out of the frosting on one side?" Jess gave a hearty laugh with a shake of her head, muttering 'idiot'. "Yeah, he got a nasty shock when he realised it was like three months old. Plus mom blasted him for ruining it."

"I cannot believe she's kept it so long!"

Lailah felt like she was being a little left out and although she didn't want to be rude and interrupt, she also didn't want to be phased out and end up being that weird girl who just sits at your table silently, making you wonder if she's planning your murder or simply reciting Dr Seuss poems over in her head. "My sister Rory says that my mum had Chinese food sitting in the fridge for a year once and kept claiming it was still okay, but I think that was more her just being lazy than sentimental." The two girls she was sitting with cracked up at that.

"Why didn't you just throw it out?" Lily asked, doodling a pile of poo with stink wafts coming from it on the paper, and Lialah bet that she could figure out their previous conversations from the pictures on the paper if she wanted to.

Lai shrugged, drawing a Chinese takeaway container with Rory holding her nose in the background. "I wasn't around then. I'm surprised Ror didn't though, she can be a bit of a clean freak when she wants to."

Jess looked at Lailah with slightly widened eyes before saying, "That long ago?"

"Na, I've only been in America for like three weeks now." At this she started to draw an aeroplane with Australia in the background.

The two girls shared a confused look, glancing at the picture Lailah was drawing in blue pen. "What you mean? I thought you said it was your mom and sister." Jess said, clearly being the more vocal and confident of the two.

Lailah's head snapped up from where she was colouring the little Australia in yellow, forgetting that nobody here knew about her being adopted as they did in Stars Hollow. "I'm adopted." She said simply.

Both girl's eyebrows disappeared under their beanies and Lailah laughed at them while they simply shared looks. "When did you get adopted?" Lily asked, speaking up while Jess's mouth just flailed a bit.

"About four weeks ago." She replied easily and both girls continued to look shocked but a bit of confusion filtered into their eyes as they scrutinised her features.

Jess leant forward, hands clasped as she looked at them, looking as if she were an odd psychiatrist or someone trying to understand the inner workings of someone's brain as she glanced between her hand's and Lailah. "But you said you're like a teenager and you've only been here for _four weeks_?" Lailah simply nodded her head, casting the girl a raised eyebrow which caused Jess to sit back in her seat, the confusion taking over. "Mind explaining?"

The brown haired girl sat forward in her seat, putting the markers away and clasping her own hands in a mocking way while facing Jess. "Well, you see, I was talking to my now-sister Rory on facebook after reading an article she wrote for the New York Times where she works, and then I started talking to my now-mum Lorelai who ended up coming to Australia after I totally freaked one day, then she basically just adopted me and here I am." Lailah held her hands out to her sides when she was done telling her little story, smiling.

"So you like didn't have any parents back in Australia?" Lily asked almost hesitantly, clearly thinking that it was a sore subject for Lailah, though the teen had already gotten over the fact that her birth parents were deadbeats back in Australia.

Lailah shook her hair, bun slipping a little bit which caused a couple of stands of hair to fall in her face. She reached up to fix her hair while explaining, "Na, my mother was a looser who couldn't take care of me so she dumped me with my grandparents. They died when I was a little kid though and I got stuck in the foster system. I lived with this creepy, feral guy named Joe for like fourteen years until mum came and got me."

"SO, she just like flew over to Australia because you called her?" Lailah nodded and the two girls exchanged a look. "Man, your mum sounds cool."

"She is. She'll probably run in here freaking out when Remy tells her where I am so you might get to meet her a bit late." Lailah shrugged, picking up a black marker and starting to draw a big eye on the paper, the blue marker already waiting for her to use it when she was done with the outline. "So, what are your stories?" She asked the girls at the table with her, watching as Lily drew a music note and Jess drew a fountain pen which was leaking... _red_?! _**(Castle reference because I'm that skilled! And Jess helped me develop the idea for this story.)**_

**What did everyone think? I have a new direction that I'm taking this in which I've developed with Jess and am going to try not to kill by rushing it. Anyhow, I'm not a doctor so please excuse my total massacre of all things medical. I started this at 11 o'clock at night and ceebs doing any form of research so heres to hoping that it can kinda pass as legit. Please review. I love hearing from each and every one of you. And Lily G I hope you enjoyed your first feature experience, I guarantee that you WILL be back. **** well goodnight ladies and gents, I'm going to pass out! **


	27. Chapter 27

"So yeah, when my mom found out that Dr Wilson was working here she picked up the family and we moved. My brother sounded like such a girl when he found out, he was all like 'But moooom, all my friends are here. Why do we have to move just because of Jess?'" Jess mocked a little kids voice as she mimicked her brother's whining, sitting back in her seat with a small, kind of victorious grin on her face. "I just told him that when he's dying then we'll move for him. He shut up pretty quickly. Mom was pretty pissed that I spoke so crassly about it but what can you do? It is what it is."

Lailah simply looked at Jess as she spoke, wondering how she could be so straight forward about the fact that she wasn't okay, will probably never be okay, and that these facts weren't okay, and in having this moment of wonderment, Lailah truly saw how lucky she was. Before saying anything in reply to Jess's life story, she slipped into a more joking and playful frame of mind as she knew that neither of the girls at her table wanted to be pitied. "Dude, I cannot believe you just yelled that at your brother. How old was he?" Lailah questioned.

Jess flicked her wrist in a dismissing manner, "I dunno. Old enough."

Lily looked at Jess incredulously for a moment before slapping her arm. "He was five when you moved! You're such a bitch." The two girls cracked up laughing for a good couple of minutes before there was a commotion outside of the room. All three of their heads snapped up when there was a crash and a small 'sorry' from the hall. "The hell?"

After a loud bang and a louder 'I didn't see you there' Lailah knew who was making all that noise and face palmed herself, covering her face with her hands and shaking her head. The doors bust open and there was another couple of noises where things had clearly been knocked over or stood on and then a voice cut through all the noise. "Lai, thank _Gran_ I found you! Remy said you were in the oncology wing, and then she ran off to some other patient and I didn't know _what_ was going on, so I ran up here and the lady at the desk said you were in here and _my_ _God_ there are a lot of stairs in two floors!" Lorelai bent over with her hands resting on her knees while Jess and Lily watched her with wide eyes and Lailah simply sat there with a slack jaw, in shock that her mum had made such an entrance. She expected something big, but not quite this big. Lorelai snapped her head up, still bent over, to look at Lailah with wide blue eyes. "Your grandmother has lost it!"

"Guys, my mum." Lailah gestured over enthusiastically to Lorelai who finally looked up and gave the girls a small wave of acknowledgement, still trying to catch her breath after running up the stairs and through the wing before giving Lailah a one breathed speech about the experience. "The infamous Lorelai Gilmore-Danes."

Jess was the first to speak as she held out a hand to the now straight standing woman in the Red Sox jersey, blue skinny jeans, black jacket, and black converses which in her mind instantly made Lorelai cool as her mom usually wore such nice clothes and never let loose. "Hi, I'm Jess."

Lorelai shook her hand and then clasped hands with the girl in the rainbow beanie when she held hers out, "I'm Lily."

Lorelai smiled at both the girls, noticing their beanies and the IV lines stuck to their arms which didn't lead to any bags, but simply sat there just waiting to be used. "So you girls are from this ward?" she asked, kicking Lai's wheelchairs breaks on and then leaning against it. Both girl's nodded, tugging at their beanie's when the motion moved them out of place to reveal small amounts of fuzz. "Cool."

Lily gave Lorelai an odd look while Jess chuckled to herself, muttering, "Yeah, dying; cool."

The woman didn't miss the sarcasm in the girls voice and decided to try and joke her way out of it. "Yeah, been there, done that." She gave pause while the two girls in hats stared at her wide eyed. Lorelai gave herself a small slap on the forehead before continuing with her punch line, "Nope, that was just childbirth. My mistake." All four of them cracked up laughing and when they stopped Lailah gave her mum a small glare for making such an inappropriate joke, no matter how funny. "What?" Lorelai asked incredulously while bumping her hip to Lailah's shoulder which a lot of people had been doing lately.

"So inappropriate!" the teen harshly whispered.

"Well it felt like death!" Lorelai responded while giving Lailah a weird look which was between a blaming glare and a wink. "That hurt!" she once again bumped Lailah with her hip.

Lailah glared at Lorelai jokingly before holding up her hands in a calming manner, "Hey, can't blame me for that. I wasn't even there. Go after Rory."

"Oh yeah, forgot I didn't give birth to you. Must be you being a pain in my rear end that I mistook for the after effects of popping a kid out!" Lorelai joked, which made all three girls crack up. Lorelai's legs really were tired after running up the stairs and she looked around for a chair. Every chair or seat was taken; a lot of them were over by the Playstation which a group of boys were huddled around and cheering at. She turned back to the table, noticing that Lily was actually sitting on a foot stool instead of a chair, and Jess's chair looked like it came out of the hallway and not originally from the colourful room. She patted Lai on the arm and when the teen looked up at her she smiled a charming smile, "Up."

The teen looked at Lorelai with a questioning look on her face and then looked around the room, noticing the lack of chairs as well. "You know, there's a reason I'm in the chair." Lailah said with a quirk of her eyebrow but stood when Lorelai gestured with her head again.

Lorelai sat in the wheelchair, making sure the breaks were securely locked before patting her lap and grinning at Lailah. "Take a seat." She offered and her daughter sat down, making sure to squish around on the woman's lap with her bony bum. "You know, I could leave you here." Lorelai jokingly threatened which made Lailah stop moving around and plant her feet on the floor on the outsides of Lorelai's. It was then that she noticed her shoes.

"Why are you wearing my shoes?" she asked Lorelai who shrugged.

Lorelai moved her feet around a little bit inside the slightly too big shoes. "I wanted to wear my Red Sox top."

"And?"

"I needed some shoes to go with my top." She gestured between her top and her shoes with a grin. "They go perfectly together."

While Lorelai was gesturing, Lailah noticed the jacket Lorelai was wearing was also hers. "And you're wearing my jacket. I'm gonna have to get Rory to bring all my clothes in so you can't wear them, aren't I?"

Lorelai gave a dubious grin and a small shake of her head. "Yesterday..." Lailah gave her a look as if to say go on, "Rory wore your black high-waisted skirt and that pink frilly top to a meeting with her boss and some new editor they want to hire." Lailah's mouth gaped open and she leant over the table, groaning into her folded arms. Lorelai leant around Lailah's hunched over body and grinned at the two girls watching them with amused smiles. "It's a free for all. I even needed to take a tag off this top I wore the other day. I cannot believe you haven't worn half your clothes yet."

Lailah's head snapped up at that, almost head-butting Lorelai in the nose. "You wore clothes that _I've_ never worn before?" Lorelai simply nodded and Lailah snapped her head back towards her new friends. "Do you see what I have to deal with?"

The two girls both laughed and Lily nodded her head with a small roll of her eyes, "I have a sister who's a sister who's a year younger than me. I know what you're dealing with."

Lailah nodded in a sympathetic way and spun to face Lorelai with a glare, "Did you hear that? You're a fifteen year old girl."

"Oh my god, will you repeat that the next time someone asks how old I am? It'll sound so much better coming from my daughter than me telling them I'll forever be twenty-one."

Lailah nodded dutifully saying, "Sure." Before turning back towards the girls still watching them interact effortlessly.

Lorelai wrapped her arms around Lailah's stomach, gently hugging her and propping her head on the girl's shoulder blade while peeking at the two girls at the table, "I have the best kid ever." She winked at them.

Lily shook her head with a smile while Jess looked between Lailah and Lorelai with a sense of wonderment. "How did you _not_ give birth to her? You guys are freakishly alike." Jess continued to look between the brown eyed teen and her blue eyed mother, taking in their similarities which were few and far between due to the fact that they're not actually blood related but there were still some small things, though the most familiar thing between them was their approach to life and their attitudes. "You're both just as weird as each other."

Lailah sat up straighter when Lorelai let go of her and gave a grin. "It's our genius-ness!" she declared to Jess who frowned and shook her head.

"More like madness."

Lailah widened her eyes in a joking manner, leaning slightly over the table and towards Jess. "Madness? Who said anything about madness? One means I'm crazy and the other means I'm epic!"

Jess quirked an eyebrow, sitting back and folding her arms challengingly, "How do you figure that?" she asked.

"Because I'm a genius! I already told you." she said in a tone that was dead serious, though everyone at the table knew she was only joking.

The beanie clad girl shook her head with a small chuckle, "Oh, in that case; I stand corrected. Genius it is."

Lailah nodded in mock-appreciation, leaning back against Lorelai as she pretended to recline in her seat. "Thanks, and just because we're friends you can call me Einstein." She leant forward conspiratorially while quirking a finger and beckoning Jess to lean forward as well, which she did. "But to all these other losers I'm Mr Einstein!" she gave a decisive nod before Lorelai tickled Lailah's sides which caused the teen to snap upright and then immediately grab at her stomach when a stabbing pain shot through it at the movement. "OW!" she yelled, turning gently on her seat to genuinely glare at Lorelai who had a hand over her mouth and wide eyes.

Lorelai put her hand over Lai's on her stomach, mouth gaping at having inadvertently caused her daughter pain. "I'm so sorry baby, I forgot."

Lailah nodded in understanding as she had forgotten that she was hurt herself while interacting with Lily, Jess, and her mum. She stood up while talking, "That's okay, but it hurt pretty bad. I think I wanna head back to my room." Lorelai nodded while scampering from the wheelchair and gripping the handles on the back of the chair and kicking the breaks off when Lailah was sitting.

Lorelai made sure that Lailah was situated comfortably and unhooked her IV tube after it got caught on the corner of the backing. She spun to face the teens who'd started ripping the part of the paper closest to Lailah off and smiled when Lily folded and handed it to Lailah with a smile. "It was great to meet you girls."

"Nice to meet you too." Jess said while giving Lorelai a smile. Next she looked at Lailah with a smaller smile. "You had better come and hang out with us again!" Lailah nodded her agreement and Jess's smile widened. "Cool, just ask Rem when you wanna come up. She knows our treatment plans so she'll be able to tell you if either of us will be busy. She also knows where our rooms are if we're not in here for one reason or another."

"Sure, I'll keep that in mind and I'll probably be back tomorrow. Save me a seat 'cause I'm gonna see if I can walk up." Lily and Jess both nodded.

Lily gestured to the main boy over at the Playstation, sitting in a big cushy chair which looked like it was a couch stuck on top of a kitchen table for all the padding it had. "I'll save you the good chair. I don't have any treatment tomorrow but I'm an early riser anyway so I can sneak in and hide it in the closet or something." She gave a wink which looked odd on timid, sweet Lily and caused a small chuckle to leave Lailah's lips.

After one last wave goodbye Lorelai wheeled Lailah to the elevator where they got in and were carried back to Lailah's floor. The pair exited the metal box and headed straight for Lai's room. The hallway was empty and so were all of the nurse's stations that they passed which meant that something big had probably happened while Lai was gone and in a small way she was glad for the single room which meant she neither had to put up with the madness which made up the hospital, or get attached to the patients. They entered the room and Lorelai helped Lailah onto the impractically high bed before going and closing the door. "What you wanna do now?" Lorelai asked considerately.

Lailah simply shrugged, easing down in her bed, the covers wrapped around her shoulders. "I think I just wanna sleep."

"Okay baby. I've got a bit of work I need to get done so I'll work on that while you rest." Lorelai went over and closed the thick curtains before remembering Lailah's appointment for the day. "You have your first physical fitness check at five so I'll wake you up at four thirty and you can get ready, okay."

The teen nodded, her eyes already closing and burrowed her face in the patchwork blanket that she had been sleeping with the last couple of weeks and had become very attached to. With a small frown Lailah stuck her hand out of the blankets and gestured for Lorelai to come over to her, eyes still closed. Lorelai made her way over to her, rubbing her daughters arm through the blankets, "What is it hun?" she asked quietly.

"Can I have your jacket?" the teen asked simply.

Lorelai frowned, "You cold?" she asked, looking over to Lailah's clothes on the bed and confirming that she had a jacket there that the girl could put on.

Lailah shook her head, "No, just want yours 'cause it smells like you. Helps me sleep." Lorelai didn't say anything for a while so Lailah confessed, "I had another nightmare last night." She opened her eyes for a moment when she heard a zipper being undone to see Lorelai taking her jacket off. When Lorelai pulled back the covers and laid it over Lailah's body the teen pulled the hood above the edge of the covers and buried her face in it. "Love you mum."

Lorelai stroked her daughters head lovingly and kissed her temple, whispering "Love you too Lai." Before grabbing Lailah's jumper from the pile of clothing she'd accumulated on the chair, as it was chilly in the room. She walked over to the chair by the window and pulled out her laptop, sitting to do some work while glancing up every so often at Lailah and keeping an eye on the clock, smiling happily to herself about her peacefully sleeping daughter who was being comforted by simply the smell of her, and truly realized how lucky she was.

**Alright, not as long as I usually like to make it but it's 3am and I need to be up at 8:30 to go into my future workplace and fill in paperwork before going to hang out with my boisterous 8 and 6 year old cousins who use me as their personal jungle gym. So I hope you enjoyed it, and Jess how good am I?! I worked a whole conversation of ours into this! Genius is damn well right!**

**Catch ya next update, Bec (ie. Einstein) xx**


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